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Division    J^  <0 . w. .\  \ 

Section »..G"..S'l3. .. 

Number .V..*.  ^ 


NEW  TESTAMENT  HOURS 


*    *    *    * 


WORKS  BY 
THE  REV.  CUNNINGHAM  GEIKIE,    D.D. 

HOURS  WITH  THE   BIBLE.     New  and  Revised  Edition. 

6  Vols.,  3000  Pages $7.50 

NEW   TESTAMENT   HOURS.     4  Vols.,  2000  Pages    .         .     6.00 

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Published  by  JAMES   POTT  &  CO., 
Fourth  Avenue  and  22d  Street,  New  York. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  HOURS 


BY 


/ 
CUNNINGHAM  GEIKIE,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

LATE   VICAR  OP   ST.    MAKTIN   AT    PALACE,    NORWICH 


VOL.   IV. 
ST.    PETER  TO   KEVELATIOK 


ANCIENT  ROME — THE  FORUM   RESTORED 


NEW  YORK 
JAMES   POTT   &   COMPANY 

Fourth  Avenue  and  22d  Street 

1897 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  V'ork 


PREFACE 

This  volume  finishes  the  series  of  "  Hours  with  the  Bible," 
which  now  embraces  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
The  undertaking  has  cost  me  so  many  years'  labour  that 
if  the  favour  it  meets  bear  any  proportion  to  the  toil  in 
carrying  it  out,  I  shall  be  one  of  the  most  popular 
writers  of  the  day. 

The  wide  sale  of  the  earlier  edition  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment section,  both  in  England  and  America,  and  the 
constant  requests  to  illustrate  the  New  Testament  in  the 
same  way,  have  been  my  abiding  encouragement  in  pro- 
ducing a  new  edition  of  the  Old  Testament  portion, 
brought  carefully  up  to  the  present  date,  in  every  branch 
of  study  involved,  and  in  adding  to  it  the  volumes  on  the 
New  Testament.  My  aim,  throughout,  has  been  to  realise 
the  idea  of  Dr.  Arnold, by  supplying,  for  all  classes,  "a  true, 
comprehensive,  popular  Handbook  of  the  Bible,  keeping 
back  none  of  the  counsel  of  God,  lowering  no  truth, 
chilling  no  lofty  or  spiritual  sentiment ;  yet  neither  silly, 
fanatical,  nor  sectarian ;  "  and  I  gratefully  accept  the  assur- 
ance of  many  members  of  the  episcopal  bench,  of  scholars, 
clergy,  ministers,  private  students  of  Scripture,  and  the 
press,  both  here  and  in  America,  that,  in  their  opinion, 
I  have  given  them  just  what  Dr.  Arnold  so  much  wished. 


VI  PKEFACE 

The  photographs  in  the  present  volume  were  chiefly 
taken  during  my  visit  to  Asia  Minor  and  Palestine  this 
year.  I  return  my  best  thanks  for  the  use  of  them  to 
the  Eev.  Dr.  E.  Tremlett  and  H.  G.  Powell,  Esq. 

I  trust  that  the  easy  narrative  of  the  historical  sur- 
roundings of  the  Sacred  Books,  and  the  brief  elucidatory 
amplifications  of  the  text  of  the  Prophets,  Epistles,  &c., 
will  be  found  to  save  readers  the  painful  labour  of  con- 
sulting disjointed  commentaries.  In  these  volumes  they 
get  the  marrow  of  the  best  and  latest  studies  of  the 
different  books,  condensed  into  few  words,  and  presented, 
I  hope,  in  an  attractive  and  simple  form  pleasant  to  the 
ordinary  reader,  while  even  professional  students  will  not, 
I  believe,  find  the  same  amount  of  reliable  information  in 
any  single  work.  I  have  gathered  the  honey  for  them 
from  a  great  many  flowers,  as  each  volume  sufficiently 
shows.     This  is  not  boasting,  but  the  literal  truth. 

That  the  Heavenly  Eather  may  honour  me  by  making 
my  labours  subservient  to  the  glory  of  His  great  name, 
and  the  advancement  of  the  Kingdom  of  His  Son,  our 
divine  Lord,  is  my  earnest  prayer. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGES 

I.    ST.    PETER 1-30 

II.    SECOND    EPISTLE    OF   PETER             ....  31-61 

III.  IX   JUD^A — THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE    HEBREWS         .  62-84 

IV.  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE    HEBREWS   {continued)           .  85-123 
V.    BEFORE   THE   STORM 124-145 

VI.    AFTER   THE    DEATH    OF    NERO         ....  146-169 

VII.    THE    REVELATION    OF    ST.    JOHN     THE    DIVINE — 

(that   is,  THE   THEOLOGIAN),            .            .           .  170-239 

VIII.    PLAN   OF   THE   BOOK   AND   FIRST   VISION        .           .  240-260 

IX.    THE   OPENING   OF   THE   SEALS         ....  261-270 

X.   THE   GREAT   MULTITUDE 271-285 

XI.   JUDGMENT   ON   JUDGMENT 286-310 

XII.  THE   PASSING  BELL   IN   JUDiHA     ....  311-339 

XIII.  THE   KINGDOM   OF  THE   LAMB,  AND  THE   OPENING 

JUDGMENT      .                       340-355 

XIV.  THE   FALL   OF  "BABYLON   THE   GREAT "           .            .  356-369 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGES 

XV.    THE    APPEARING   AND   VICTORY   OP    CHRIST  .            .  370-387 

XVI.    THE    NEW  JERUSALEM 388-405 

XVII.   THE   FALL   OF   JERUSALEM 406-433 

XVITL    ST,    JOHN'S    EPISTLES 434-4G1 

INDEX      ........  463-475 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTKATIONS 


Rome . 

SS.  Peter  and  Paul       .... 

St,  Peter  striking  the  Rock 

An  Egyptian  Lady  with  her  Maids   . 

Ancient  Christian  Symbols  . 

The  Tower  Hippicds      .... 

Patmos      

Map  of  Region  of  the  Seven  Churches 
Ancient  Ephesus  (Restored) 

Site  of  Ephesus 

Site  of  Temple  of  Diana 

Gateway  at  Ephesus      .... 

Mound  at  Ephesus         .... 

Monastery  of  St.  John  the  Divine    . 

Roman  Arch  at  Ephesus 

Site  of  Temple  of  Diana,  Ephesus  (Second  V 

Smyrna,  from  the  Bay  .... 

Polycarp's  Prison,  Smyrna  . 

Pergamos         

Thyatira 

Sardis 


EW) 


PAOE 

Title 
4 
19 
25 
97 
133 
173 
180 
190 
191 
193 
195 
195 
196 
197 
204 
206 
210 
212 
219 
225 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Philadelphia 230 

Laodicea ...  235 

Altar  of  Incense 282 

The  Emperor  Titus 414 

Jewish  Spoils  carried  in  the  Triumph  op  Titus     .  429 

Medal  Commemorating  the  Taking  of  Jerusalem   .  430 

Coin  Commemorating  the  Conquest  of  Judaea  ■.        .  431 

The  Arch  of  Titus 432 


HOUES  WITH   THE   BIBLE 

ST.  PETER  TO  REVELATION 


CHAPTER  I 

ST.   PETER 

That  the  story  of  St.  Paul  might  be  given  continuously, 
I  passed  for  the  time  over  the  Epistles  of  St.  Peter, 
though  Peter's  First  Epistle  is  thought  by  some  to  have 
been  written  as  early  as  A.D.  54,  when  Paul  was  on  his 
third  great  missionary  journey.  Most  authorities,  how- 
ever, assign  both  Epistles  to  the  close  of  the  apostle's 
life,  which  probably  was  almost  coincident  with  that  of 
St.  Paul. 

The  relations  as  such,  to  each  other,  of  the  two  great 
leaders,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  in  the 
Apostolic  Church  History.  From  the  first,  Peter's  dis- 
tinctly Hebraistic  type  of  Christianity  must  have  marked 
him  out  as  especially  the  Apostle  of  the  Circumcision, 
that  is,  of  the  Jewish  race,  and  hence  Paul  describes  him 
as  no  less  suited  to  this  sphere  than  he  himself  to  that  of 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  or  non-Jewish  populations.^ 
A  pious  Israelite,  it  apparently  seemed  a  fixed  conviction 
with  him  that  the  continued  observance  of  the  Mosaic 

1  Gal.  ii.  8,  9. 
IV.  A 


2  ST.   PETER 

Law — the  divinely  revealed  rule  of  life  for  his  people — 
was  necessary.  A  Jew,  working  only  among  Jews,  there 
would  be  nothing  to  raise  the  question  how  this  retention 
of  the  Mosaic  ordinances  was  to  be  reconciled  with  his 
fundamental  principle,  that  salvation  was  to  be  found 
only  by  faith  in  the  name  of  Jesus.^  He  knew,  indeed, 
that  in  Him  all  families  of  the  earth  would  be  blessed,^ 
and  that,  to  bring  this  about,  God  would  "call "  the  "far 
off"  heathen.^  But  he  clung  to  the  fond  belief  that  the 
salvation  brought  by  Christ  was  designed  first  for  the 
sons  of  the  ancient  Covenant,  the  people  of  Israel,^  and 
only  with  and  through  them  for  the  heathen.  He  could 
not,  therefore,  believe  that  his  race,  though  it  had  rejected 
his  Lord,  would  finally  refuse  the  testimony  borne  by  the 
apostles  to  His  having  risen  from  the  dead,  or  hesitate  to 
accept  Him,  when  thus  shown  to  have  been  accepted  by 
God  as  the  Messiah.  This  must  have  confirmed  him  in 
the  thought  that  he  and  his  apostolic  brethren,  chosen 
evidently  in  allusion  to  the  twelve  tribes,  should  confine 
their  first  labours  to  their  own  nation,^  putting  off  the 
idea  of  a  simultaneous  mission  to  the  heathen  the  more 
readily,  since  the  strictly  legal  observance  of  the  Mosaic 
Law,  to  which  his  own  hereditary  bias,  and  the  prejudices 
of  his  people,  whom  he  desired  to  win,  committed  him,  virtu- 
ally precluded  his  intimate  access  to  the  Uncircumcised. 

So  strong  indeed  was  this  feeling  that,  as  we  have  seen, 
it  needed  a  special  divine  intimation  before  he  could 
bring  himself  to  enter  the  quarters  even  of  the  Centurion 
Cornelius,  at  Cassarea,  almost  a  lord  in  the  eyes  of  a  poor 
fisherman  from  the  lake  of  Tiberias,  and  moreover,  already, 

1  Acts  ii.  21,  38  ;  iv.  12.  ^  ^^ts  iii.  25.  ^  Acts  ii.  89. 

*  Acts  iii.  25,  26 ;  x.  36.  ^  Acts  x.  42. 


ST.   PETER  3 

as  "  a  proselyte  of  the  gate,"  nearer  Judaism  than  ordi- 
nary heathen.  Nor  did  he  feel  free  to  administer  baptism 
to  the  Centurion's  household  till  extraordinary  spiritual 
attestations  of  their  favour  with  God  had  shown  them- 
selves.^ It  is,  therefore,  probable  that,  like  the  then 
existing  Church  as  a  whole,  he  drew  no  inference  from 
this  isolated  incident,  as  to  any  future  missionary  efforts, 
and  that,  apostles  and  "  brethren  "  alike,  confined  them- 
selves, as  before,  to  labours  among  Jews  only.^ 

This  attitude  of  Peter  has  been  urged  by  some  critics 
as  a  conclusive  proof  that  the  friendliness  of  the  apostle 
to  the  Church  at  Antioch,  implied  in  Acts,  is  a  mere  in- 
vention. But  there  was  no  reason  why  Peter  should  not 
make  an  exception  from  his  usual  rule  in  favour  of  a 
Church  gathered  from  the  heathen  outside  Palestine, 
honoured  as  it  had  been  by  the  evident  blessing  of  God. 
The  Church  at  Jerusalem  had,  indeed,  as  a  body,  shown 
their  friendly  interest  in  the  new  community  gathered  in 
the  Syrian  capital  by  Hellenistic  Jews,  by  their  sending 
Barnabas  to  it,  and  in  this  sympathy  Peter  doubtless 
shared.  He,  and  Jewish-Christians  generally,  were,  how- 
ever, forced,  as  they  supposed,  to  take  a  new  position 
when  the  heathen-born  element  threatened  to  take  fore- 
most place  in  the  Church  at  arge,  after  the  success  of 
Paul  in  his  mission  to  the  n tiles.  The  excitement 
thus  roused  led  the  stricter  legalists  in  the  Jerusalem 
brotherhood  to  insist  that  acceptance  of  Judaism  was 
necessary,  even  for  Gentile  converts,  as  a  condition  of 
salvation;  and  in  consequence  of  this  the  congregation 
at  Antioch  sought  an  official  decision  on  so  weighty  a 
matter  from   the  apostles  and   the   mother  -  Church   at 

'  Acts  X.  44-47.  2  Acts  xi.  19. 


4  ST.    PETER 

Jerusalem.^  Influenced,  no  doubt,  by  his  experience  with 
Cornelius  at  Caesarea,  Peter,  with  James,  and  their  circle, 
met  the  representations  of  Paul,  as  has  been  related,  with 
a  friendly  compromise,  relieving  heathen-born  converts 
from  the  yoke  of  necessary  submission  to  Jewish  rites 


Gilded  glass  with  heads  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul.  The  two  apostles  have 
over  them  a  single  crown  of  victory,  as  if  to  show  that "  in  their  death 
they  were  not  divided.' 


and  observances,  and  thus  leaving  it  open  to  the  Jewish 
Christian  brethren  to  have  a  comparatively  friendly  in- 
tercourse with  them.  The  wavering  and  weak  attitude 
of   Peter  towards   the  Syrian  Church,  by  breaking  off 


^  Acts  XV.  4. 


ST.    PETER  5 

social  intercourse  with  its  members  in  their  common 
mealS;  when  some  fierce  Judaists  had  come  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  rekindle  the  Jewish  controversy,^  in  no 
degree  contradicts  the  earlier  spirit  related  in  the  Acts, 
but  simply  proves  that  the  constitutional  impulsiveness 
which  Peter  had  so  often  shown,  down  to  his  momentary 
denial  of  his  Master,  still  swayed  him  in  any  crisis.  He 
must,  moreover,  have  been  alarmed  lest  such  liberal  views 
as  he  had  upheld  might  destroy  his  influence  in  his  own 
special  mission  to  his  people ;  nor  may  his  mind  have 
been  quite  clear  from  the  hereditary  prejudices  which 
had  been  condemned  in  relation  to  Cornelius  and  his 
household.  To  extend  the  principle  laid  down  in  a 
special  case,  to  a  rule  universally  applicable,  might  well 
be  difficult  for  one  till  recently  holding  opinions  so 
opposite.  If  the  Gentile  had  been  excused  from  the 
strict  observance  of  the  law,  the  Jew  was  still  under- 
stood to  continue,  as  a  Christian,  faithful  to  the  divinely- 
imposed  customs  of  his  race.  That  these  could  not  be 
followed  exactly  outside  Palestine,  and  that  their  un- 
conditional imposition  as  obligatory  would  paralyse  any 
attempts  to  unite  Jews  and  heathen  converts  in  Christian 
fellowship,  was  an  experience  yet  to  be  made  by  Peter, 
so  that  we  need  not  wonder  at  his  wavering  when  the 
difficulty  first  rose  in  full  force  before  him.  But  when 
met  by  the  unanswerable  arguments  of  Paul,  as  the 
inflexible  apostle  of  religious  liberty,  and  when  the 
disastrous  results  of  the  narrowness  to  which  he  had 
temporarily  given  way  were  thus  pointed  out,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  he  realised  his  false  position,  and 
accepted  the  wider  ideas  of  Paul,  for  there  is  not  the 

^   Gal.  ii.  11  flf. 


6  ST.   PETER 

least  trace  to  be  found  in  the  Epistles  of  any  permanent 
difference  between  them.^ 

Of  the  later  story  of  St.  Peter  little  is  told.  After  his 
wonderful  escape  from  sharing  the  fate  of  James  the 
brother  of  John,  under  Herod  Agrippa,^  he  had  to  flee 
from  Jerusalem,  but  the  fancy  that  he  then  went  to 
Rome,  and  founded  a  Church  there,  is  demonstrably  an 
invention,  since  we  find  that  he  made  his  home  again 
in  the  Holy  City,  after  the  death  of  the  persecutor;^ 
and  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Roman  Church  could  not  have 
failed  to  allude  to  its  relation  to  so  illustrious  an  apostle, 
if  Peter  had  established  it.  Its  origin,  indeed,  ran  back 
to  years  before  Paul  set  out  on  his  great  mission  to 
Achaia,*  and  it  can  only  have  been  connected  with  Peter 
through  the  reports  and  zeal  of  some  who  had  heard 
his  preaching,  when  at  the  Feasts  in  Jerusalem.^  The 
main  agents  in  its  creation  were,  in  fact,  evidently 
unknown  followers  of  Paul,  such  as  those,  we  may  fancy, 
who  gained  a  footing  for  the  new  faith  in  Crete  and  many 
other  places.^  Nor  is  there  any  proof  that  Peter  visited 
Corinth,  from  the  existence  there  of  a  party  using  his 
name ;  the  presence  in  the  city  of  a  number  of  Palestine 
Jewish  -  Christians,  and  the  anxieties  of  weak  -  minded 
brethren,  naturally  leading  some  to  rally  under  the  name 
of  the  leader  of  Jewish-Christian  ideas,  as  a  stand  against 
the  dominant  extravagances  of  such  as  carried  Paul's 
great  doctrine  of  spiritual  freedom  beyond  just  limits."^ 

Of  the  later  traditional  notices  of  the  apostle  it  is 
hard  to  make  any  reliable  or  satisfactory  story.     That  he 

^  1  Cor.  iii.  22  ;  xv.  9,  11  ;  2  Peter  iii.  15.  ^  ^^^^  xii. 

•'  Acts  XV.  7  ;  Gal.  ii.  9.  "*  Rom.  xv.  23.  ^  Acts  ii.  1 0. 

^  See  Geikie's  St.  Paul,  vol.  ii.,  p.  547.  ^  1  Cor.  viii.-x. 


ST.   PETER  7 

suffered  martyrdom  is  generally  admitted,  not  only  from 
the  words  of  Christ/  but  from  such  strong  testimony  as 
that  of  the  Epistle  of  Clement  of  Eome  to  the  Corin- 
thians, which  dates  as  far  back  as  the  last  years  of  the 
first  century.2  "  Let  us  set  before  us,"  it  says,  "  the  good 
apostles :  Peter,  who  through  unholy  zeal  (of  enemies), 
suffered  not  one  or  two  but  many  trials,  and  having  thus 
endured  martyrdom,  departed  to  that  place  of  glory  due 
to  him."  ^  It  is  not  stated  that  this  happened  at  Eome, 
but  no  other  place  is  suggested,  and  it  seems  natural  to 
assume  that  Clement,  writing  from  Eome,  intended  that 
city  to  be  understood,  especially  since  he  presently  joins 
the  two  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  with  "  a  great  multitude 
of  the  elect,' who  have  suffered  in  our  midst."  Papias, 
a  bishop  of  Hierapolis,  a  city  on  the  borders  of  Phrygia, 
in  Asia  Minor — a  diligent  collector  of  Church  traditions — 
living  about  A.D.  loo,  and  a  friend  of  the  daughters  of 
Philip  the  Evangelist,  then  still  alive,  relates  in  one  of 
the  fragments  of  his  writings  which  have  come  down  to 
us,  as  a  tradition  derived  from  a  presbyter,  that  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Mark  was  composed  at  Eome,  from  the  directions 
of  St.  Peter,  whose  interpreter  he  was ;  thus  assigning 
Eome  as  the  home  of  the  apostle  in  the  closing  period 
of  his  life.*  The  presence  of  St.  Peter  at  Eome  is,  more- 
over, expressly  stated  by  authorities  of  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  and  of  a  generation   later.^      Irenaeus, 

^  John  xxi.  18,  19. 

2  Pat  Apost.  Opera,  ed.  Gebhardt  and  Harnack,  i.  lix.  Ix. 

3  1  Pet.  V.  3,  4. 

^  Euseb.  Eceles.  Hist.,  book  ii.  15  ;  iii.  39  ;  vi.  li  and  25. 

^  Acta  Petri  et  Pauli,  ed.  Hilgenfeld,  iv.  68  ;  Prcedicatio  Petri,  ed. 
Hilgenfeld,  iv.  57  ;  Dionysius  of  Corinth.,  c.  a.d.  170,  quoted  in  Euseb. 
Ch.  Hist.  ii.  25. 


8  ST.    PETER 

bishop  of  Lyons  in  a.d.  177,^  says  that  Peter  and  Panl 
preached  the  Gospel  in  Rome,  and  founded  the  Church. 
Tertullian,  born  at  Carthage  about  a.d.  150  or  160,  and 
living  well  on  into  the  century  after,^  extols  Rome  in 
his  rhetorical  way,  as  the  place  where  Peter  endured 
suffering  like  that  of  his  Lord ;  where  Paul  met  the 
same  death  as  John  the  Baptist,  and  the  Apostle  John 
was  plunged  in  boiling  oil  without  being  harmed,  and 
then  banished  to  an  island.  Clement  of  Alexandria,^ 
who  died,  an  old  man,  about  a.d.  220,  speaks  of  Peter's 
being  in  Rome ;  and  a  Roman  presbyter,  Caius,  who  lived 
about  A.D.  310,  is  quoted  by  Eusebius  as  appealing,  in 
support  of  the  tradition  of  the  death  of  both  Peter  and 
Paul  at  Rome,  to  their  tombs  in  the  Vatican,  and  on  the 
Ostian  road,  respectively.  The  worth  of  these  testi- 
monies, however,  coming  to  us  at  long  intervals  after  the 
events  noted,  in  a  time  when  things  did  not  get  smaller 
as  time  passed,  is,  I  fear,  worth  little  more  than  its  mere 
repetition  of  the  belief  in  Peter's  having  ended  his  days  at 
Rome ;  to  judge  by  a  curious  instance  that  has  revealed 
the  doubtful  character  of  ecclesiastical  tradition  gene- 
rally. Justin  Martyr,  who  was  born  about  the  year  100, 
and  thus  entered  life  as  the  Apostle  John  left  it,  in 
referring  to  Simon  Magus,  whom  a  Jewish-Christian 
tradition  had  transferred  to  Rome,  and  had  represented 
as  there  exposed  by  St.  Peter,  corroborates  his  narrative 
by  telling  how  the  impostor  so  bewitched  the  Senate 
and  people,  that  a  statue  was  erected  to  him  as  a  god, 
on  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Tiber,  in  the  reign  of 
Claudius,^    with   the  inscription  "  Simoni  Deo    Sancto." 

^  Irenaeus,  Adv.  Hcer.  iii.  1.  ^  Tertull.  de  Prascr.  36. 

^  Euseb.  Ch.  Hist.  iv.  14.  *  Just.  Mart.  Apolog.  Ixiii. 


ST.   PETER  9 

In  the  year  1574,  however,  a  statue  was  dug  up  on  a 
Tiber   island,  with   an   inscription,  "  Semoni  Sanco   Deo 
Fidio   Sacrum,"   and  it  was   thus  seen — this   being  un- 
doubtedly  the  statue   to   which   Justin   alludes — that  it 
had  been  raised  not  to  "  Simon  the  Holy  God,"  but  to  a 
Sabine  deity,   Semo  Sancus.     So  radically  had  tradition 
blundered  even  thus  early!    That  Simon  was  ever  at  Eome, 
or  ever   met  St.  Peter  in  a  public   disputation,  is  itself 
only  one  of  the  endless  vagaries  of  an  age  when  imagina- 
tion played  the  childlike  part  in  the  region  of  faith,  which 
it  still  does  in  some  quarters,  as  we  see  in  the  exhibition 
of  the  seamless  coat  of  our  Lord,  a  generation  ago,  at 
Treves,  or  in  the  pilgrimages  to  Lourdes  in  our  own  time. 
Of  all  the  (Tther  early  stories  respecting  the  residence 
of  Peter  at  Eome,  the  only  one  which  can  be  confidently 
accepted  is,  that  John  Mark  was  with  him  in  the  great 
city,  and  after  the  apostle's  death  wrote  his  Gospel  from 
what  he  had  heard  from  his  Master.    All  else,  beyond  the 
fact  that  Peter  met  his  end  at  Eome,  may  be  traced  back 
to    unhistorical   grounds.      We   must    thus    discard,    as 
without  foundation  in  fact,  even  the  various  threads  of 
tradition  repeated  by  Jerome,  who  was  born  in  the  year 
331   and    died  in    the   year   420,   to    prove   that   Peter 
became  Bishop  of  Antioch  and  then  laboured  in  Pontus, 
Galatia,  Cappadocia,  proconsular  Asia  and  Bithynia ;  that 
he  went  to  Eome  in  the  second  year  of  Claudius,  A.D.  42, 
to  encounter  Simon  Magus,  as  above  noticed,  and  after 
presiding  there  as  bishop  over  the  Eoman  Church    for 
twenty-five    years,   was   crucified,   head    downwards,   in 
the  last  year  of  Nero,  A.D.  68,  and  finally  buried  on  the 
Vatican  hill.^     The  bishopric  at  Antioch  is  inferred  only 

'*■  Hieron.  de  Vir  ill.,  c.  1. 


10  ST.    PETER 

from  the  mention  of  his  passing  visit  to  that  city  in 
Galatians :  ^  while  his  labours  over  Asia  Minor  have  no 
more  reliable  source  than  the  mention  of  its  provinces  in 
the  opening  of  his  First  Epistle.^  That  he  was  crucified  is 
stated  by  Tertullian,  who  was  born  at  Carthage,  or  what 
is  now  Tunis, about  AD.  160,  and  died  about  A.D.  245;^ 
but  it  may  perhaps  rest  only  on  a  literal  interpretation  of 
Christ's  words  to  him,  in  their  last  interview ;  *  nor  is  it 
at  all  certain  that  the  story  of  his  having  been  crucified 
head  downwards,  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  who  was  born 
about  A.D.  264,  and  lived  in  Palestine,  his  native  country, 
till  about  A.D.  340,  is  to  be  trusted.  His  authority  for  it 
is  Origen  of  Alexandria,  who  lived  from  about  a.d.  185  to 
about  253.  Exaggeration  plays  a  large  part  in  all  the 
legends  of  those  times.  That  he  was  buried  on  the 
Vatican  hill  rests  only  on  the  statement  of  the  Eoman 
presbyter  Caius,  who  lived  about  A.D.  310,  that  he  had 
seen  a  memorial  there  to  keep  alive  the  fact  of  his  death 
as  a  martyr.^ 

The  claim  that  St.  Peter  had  come  to  Eome  so  early 
as  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Claudius,  and  remained 
there  as  bishop  for  twenty-five  years,  is,  beyond  doubt, 
entirely  without  any  historical  truth.  It  rests  fundamen- 
tally on  the  fanciful  and  demonstrably  incorrect  story  of 
Justin  the  Martyr  respecting  Simon  Magus  having  lived 
in  Ptome,  and  there  meeting  the  apostle.  With  this 
dream  of  the  apostle  having  come  to  Eome  thus  early, 
the  later  tradition  of  his  having  died  in  the  last  year  of 
Nero  must  have  been  joined,  to  make  up  the  twenty-five 
years  of  his  supposed  episcopacy.     The  earliest  doubtful 

'  Gal.  ii.  11  ff.  'M  Peter  i.  1.  ^  Tertull.  de  Prcescr.  36. 

*  John  xxi.  18.  ^  Lipsius,  Quellen,  p.  95. 


ST.   PETER  11 

trace  of  this  legend  is  in  the  "  Chronicle  of  Hippolytus," 
composed  about  a.d.  240,^  and  used  by  the  Chronicler  of 
the  year  354.2  ^j^g  ^ihen  growing  habit  of  seeking  a 
parallel  between  the  lives  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  next 
led  to  a  new  confusion ;  the  founding  of  the  Church  of 
Corinth  by  the  two  apostles,  in  common,  being  followed 
by  the  introduction  of  the  further  story  of  their  dying  at 
the  same  time  at  Eome.^  Through  this,  the  death  of 
Paul  was  transferred,  from  the  year  64,  after  the  burning 
of  Piome,  to  681,  the  last  year  of  Nero,  in  which  tradition 
had  already  placed  the  martyrdom  of  Peter.  The  death 
of  the  two  apostles  was,  indeed,  ultimately  declared  to 
have  happened  on  the  same  day,  two  bodies  assumed  to 
be  theirs  having  been  buried  together  on  the  29th  June, 
A.D.  258,  and  this  day  gradually  being  put  down  as  that 
of  their  martyrdom,  in  contradiction  to  the  fact  that  the 
persecution  under  Nero  could  not  have  begun  earlier  than 
iu  July  or  August.*  Eusebius  does  not,  in  his  correct 
text,  mention  the  bishopric  of  Peter  maintained  by 
Jerome;  indeed,  he  rather  considers,  with  Irenseus  and 
the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  that  Linus  was  the  first 
bishop.^  The  absolute  unreliableness  of  the  claim  of  a 
twenty- five  years'  primacy  at  Eome  is,  moreover,  strik- 
ingly shown  by  the  fact,  that  the  Chronicler  of  the  year 
354  makes  that  primacy  begin  immediately  after  the 
death  of  Christ,  in  the  year  30  of  our  era,  and  extend 
only  to  the  year  55 ;  nine  years  before  Nero's  outburst  of 
persecution,  while,  in  a  treatise  sometimes  ascribed   to 

^  Lipsius,  Chronologie,  163. 

-  Mommsen  in  der  phil.  hist.  Kl.  der  K.  Sachs.  Ges.  d.  Wiss.  i.  1850. 

^  Dionysius  of  Corinth,  cited  in  Euseb.  L'h.  Iliet.  ii.  25, 

^  Lipsius,  Chron.  50. 

5  Euseb.  Ch.  Mist.  iii.  2. 


12  ST.   PETER 

Lactantius,^  but  more  probably  written  by  Csecilius,  his 
contemporary,  not  earlier  than  a.d.  312,^  Peter's  arrival  in 
Eome  is  transferred  to  the  reign  of  Nero. 

To  add  to  all,  the  evidence  of  the  New  Testament 
utterly  precludes  any  twenty-five  years'  stay  of  the 
apostle  in  Eome.  It  tells  us  that  Peter  was  not  yet  there 
at  the  time  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  year  53,^ 
nor  at  the  date  of  his  visit  to  Antioch  at  a  later  period,  nor 
even  when  Paul  wrote  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans ;  for  he 
must,  in  that  case,  as  I  have  said,  have  been  named  in  the 
many  greetings  sent  by  the  apostle.  ISTor  could  he  have 
been  in  Eome  even  during  the  time  of  Paul's  detention 
there,  from  a.d.  61  to  63 ;  for  had  Peter  been  in  the  city, 
the  fact  must  have  been  mentioned  in  some  Epistle.  That 
he  came  to  Eome  after  Paul's  first  imprisonment,  and  that, 
sooner  or  later,  he  fell  there,  may  be  admitted,  but  a  veil 
has  been  drawn  by  Providence  over  the  last  days  alike  of 
Peter  and  Paul,  so  that  we  only  know  that  they  were  not, 
for  God  took  them. 

Yet,  though  thus,  for  now  1800  years,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Master  whom  he  had  served  so  long  and  so  faith- 
fully, St.  Peter  still  lives  among  us  in  the  two  Epistles 
he  has  left  as  his  sacred  legacy  to  the  Church. 

Of  these,  the  First  Epistle  is  accepted  well-nigh  una- 
nimously by  critics,  as  undoubtedly  genuine,  though  a 
few,  without  any  reasonable  ground,  suppose  it  to  have 
been  written  by  John  Mark,  the  friend  and  assistant  of 
the  apostle,  from  recollections  of  his  teacher's  sentiments. 
Of  course  there  are  some  who  propose  a  comparatively 
late  date  for  the  Epistle — the  end  of  the  first  century,  or 

^  Lactantius  died  about  A.D.  330. 
^  De  mort.  persecutorum.  *  Acts  xv. 


ST.   PETER  13 

even  the  reign  of  Hadrian ;  but  this,  also,  is  unsupported 
by  any  respectable  show  of  evidence.^  It  may,  indeed, 
safely  be  assumed  to  have  been  written  about  the  middle 
of  the  sixties :  shortly  after  the  death  of  St.  Paul.^  That 
there  is  no  mention  in  it  of  the  persecution  of  the  year 
64,  but  only  of  the  baleful  afterclaps  of  that  tempest, 
in  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  shows  that  it  could  not 
have  been  written  before  the  death  of  St.  Paul,  who  was 
beheaded  in  a.d.  64,  and  this  is  also  shown  by  its  refer- 
ences to  the  Epistles  of  that  apostle.  It  is,  moreover, 
improbable  that  Peter  would  have  written  to  Churches 
founded  by  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  during  that 
brother's  lifetime.  The  place  of  its  composition  is  said 
to  have  been  Babylon,  yet  it  is  difficult  to  understand  this 
literally.  The  great  city  on  the  Euphrates  became  in 
later  ages  a  great  centre  of  Jewish  life,  but  it  seems  to 
have  lain  so  entirely  desolate  during  the  first  century, 
that  nothing  but  mounds  of  rubbish  marked  its  site.^ 
Joseph  us,  moreover,  tells  us  that  the  Jews  who  had 
settled  in  Babylonia  were  driven  away,  in  Caligula's  time, 
by  persecution  and  pestilence.*  This,  however,  seems  to 
contradict  the  idea  of  complete  desolation,  and  the  dis- 
persed Hebrews  may  have  gathered  again  in  Nero's  day, 
to  a  place  so  peculiarly  dear  to  them.  Thus,  it  may  be, 
that  the  literal  Babylon  may  be  intended,  but  it  is  note- 
worthy that  no  one  in  the  first  five  centuries  speaks  of 
Peter  having  visited  the  Euphrates,  while  the  Babylon  of 

^  Trajan,  A.D.  98-117;  Baur,  Schwegler,  Hilgenfeld  ;  Hadrian,  A.D. 
117-138;  Zeller,  Hultzmann. 

-  A.D.  63,  64,  Wieseler,  Ewald,  Hofmann,  J.  Schmid  ;  a.d.  63-68, 
Huther;  a.d.  65,  66,  Siefifert  and  Beyschlag. 

3  Strabo,  Geoy.  16,  738  ;  Pausau.  Arcad.  33  ;  Plin.  Hiat.  N.  vi.  26. 

■*  Jos.  Ant.  xviii.  9,  8. 


14  ST.   PETER 

the  Epistle  was  understood  by  Christians  universally  as 
meaning  Eome,  the  emblem,  in  those  days,  of  the  existing 
ungodly  world-power,  as  Babylon  had  been  in  the  days 
of  the  prophets.^  In  Eevelation,  moreover,  Babylon  is 
evidently  a  name  for  Eome,^  and  it  is  used  in  the  same 
way  of  the  imperial  city,  not  much  later,  in  the  Jewish 
Sybilline  Oracles,^  as,  indeed,  it  had  been,  even  before 
Peter's  Epistle  was  written,  in  the  Fourth  Book  of 
Esdras> 

The  authority  of  the  Epistle,  as  a  genuine  letter  of 
St.  Peter,  is  established  with  a  circumstantiality  hardly 
found  in  any  other  of  the  New  Testament  writings.  It 
is  not  only  mentioned  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter,^  but 
is  quoted  so  literally  by  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  a 
disciple  of  St.  John,^  that  Eusebius''  is  justified  in  speak- 
ing of  him  as  having  been  familiar  with  it.  Papias,  also, 
Bishop  of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia  about  A.D.  100,  and  a 
friend  of  St.  John  and  Polycarp,  is  also  mentioned  by 
Eusebius  as  accepting  it  as  genuine,^  while  Irengeus,  in 
the  second  century,  Tertullian,^  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
who  died  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century,  Origen, 
who  lived  from  A.D.  185  to  253,  and  Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
beheaded  in  ad.  258,  often  quote  texts  from  it  without 
ever  hinting  any  doubt  as  to  its  authenticity. 

Some  have  challenged  its  being  regarded  as  Peter's,  from 
supposing  him  unequal  to  composing  an  epistle  in  Greek ; 
but  one  brought  up  in  a  district  so  completely  penetrated 

1  Isa.  xlvii.  1  ;  ii.  6,  7,  9,  22 ;  iii.  14. 

2  Rev.  xiv.  8  ;  xvi.  19  ;  xvii.  5  ;  xviii.  2,  10,  21. 

»  V.  153.  ^  iii.  1.  5  2  Pet.  iii.  1. 

*  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  A.D.  104  or  earlier ;  martyred  there  some  time 
between  147  and  175.  ^  Euseb.  H.  E.  iv.  14. 

8  Euseb.  H.  E.  iii.  39.  »  c.  160-245. 


ST.   PETER  15 

with  Greek  life  as  Galilee  must  have  been,  from  its 
nearness  to  Grecian  Syria,  would  surely  be  able  to  speak 
the  language  he  had  heard  all  his  days,  and  the  Epistle 
may  well,  like  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  have  been  dictated 
to  one  trained  to  write  it  correctly.  The  suggestion  that 
he  wrote  in  Aramaic,  and  had  the  Epistle  translated  into 
Greek  by  Mark  or  Silvanus,  is  without  the  least  support. 
That  it  should  be  addressed  "  to  the  elect  who  are 
sojourners  of  the  Dispersion  "  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappa- 
docia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia,  has  been  fancied  by  many  to 
imply  that  it  was  intended  only  for  Jewish-Christians  in 
these  provinces,  which  embraced  most  of  Asia  Minor; 
but  we  know  of  no  churches  in  these  regions  except 
those  founded  by  Paul  or  his  assistants,  and  we  cannot 
conceive  of  Peter  writing  only  to  the  Jewish-Christian 
portion  of  churches  largely  made  up  of  heathen  converts, 
as  all  gathered  by  Paul  must  have  been.  No  distinctly 
Jewish-Christian  churches  could  have  existed  in  Asia 
Minor  before  Paul's  second  missionary  journey,  for  there 
are  no  traces  of  any,  and  his  founding  a  Church  at  Pisidian 
Antioch  shows  that,  even  there  where  such  a  Church 
must  have  been  gathered,  if  Jewish-Christian  effort  had 
preceded  his,  there  was  no  germ  of  such  an  organisation. 
It  is,  indeed,  evident,  from  the  language  of  the  Epistle 
itself,  that  the  Churches  were  mainly  assemblies  of 
heathen-born  converts,  for  Peter  could  not  have  spoken 
of  Jews  as  not  knowing  that  a  life  given  up  to  "  lusts  " 
was  contrary  to  God's  law,^  since  even  Christ  never  re- 
proaches the  worst  of  His  Jewish  opponents  with  such 
ignorance,  but  only  of  hypocrisy.  ISTor  could  he  speak 
of  Jews  as  ''believing  in  God  through   Christ,"^  or  of 

1  1  Pet.  i.  14.  -I  Pet.  i.  21. 


16  ST.    PETER 

"  being  no  people  in  time  past,"  but  now  (by  their  having 
become  Christians)  being  "  the  people  of  God."  ^  That 
they  should  be  called  children  of  Sarah  ^  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  this,  for  they  are  described,  not  as  physically 
related  to  her  but  only  as  spiritually,  "if  they  do  well, 
and  are  not  put  in  fear  by  any  terror."  ^  Nor  could  Jews 
be  spoken  of  as  having  lived  heathen  lives  or  practising 
"abominable  idolatries,"*  for  Paul,  in  his  great  indict- 
ment of  the  Jew,  in  Eomans,  has  no  such  charge  to  bring 
against  his  people,  though  he  must  have  then  made  it 
had  it  been  deserved.  That  Peter  should  address  his 
Epistle  to  "  the  Dispersion "  in  the  different  provinces, 
must,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  a  figurative  use  of  Old 
Testament  language,  natural  to  one  still  clinging  fondly 
to  the  past,  and  readily  understood  by  heathen-born  con- 
verts, since  they  were  familiar  with  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures, their  only  Bible,  which  they  heard  read  at  every 
service  and  constantly  quoted  by  their  preachers,  and 
since  they  had  been  taught  that  "  Jerusalem  was  the 
mother  of  all "  Christians,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,^  and 
that  "if  they  were  Christ's,  then  were  they  Abraham's 
seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise."  ^  "  Sojourners 
and  pilgrims "  in  this  world,  they  knew  that,  as  the 
spiritual  Israel  of  God,  they  should  "  have  their  be- 
haviour seemly  among  the  heathen "  round  them,  still 
unconverted.'^ 

The  Churches  addressed  had  suffered  much  at  the  hands 
of  their  pagan  neighbours,  and  possibly,  also,  at  those  of 
the  Jews ;  ^  more,  however,  by  contempt  and  blasphemy 

1  1  Pet.  ii.  10.  2  I  p^t.  iii.  6.  ^  gee  John  viii.  39. 

4  1  Pet.  iv.  3.  '^  Gal.  iv.  26.  ^  q^i  i^i  29. 

7  1  P.t.  ii.  12.  8  I  p^t.  iv.  4. 


ST.    PETER  17 

than  from  violence,  though  this,  at  times,  may  have 
broken  out.^  The  odious  charge  of  criminal  practices  in 
connection  with  their  worship,  so  fatal,  already,  at  Eome, 
seems  indeed  to  have  spread  to  Asia  Minor,  since  they 
were  in  danger,  if  not  very  careful,  of  being  accused  as 
"  evil  doers,"  and  as  using  their  religion  as  "  a  cloak  to 
cover  wickedness."  2  Their  old  heathen  life  had  doubt- 
less, also,  left  its  weaknesses,  for  the  apostle  has  to  warn 
them  against  the  sensual  excesses  so  inveterate  among  the 
heathen  of  that  day,^  and  not  less  against  the  drunken- 
ness and  "  abominable  idolatries  "  to  which  they  had,  per- 
haps, formerly  been  given,  and  which  were  so  rife  on 
every  hand.  Nor  was  a  caution  against  giving  way  to 
violent  passion,  ending,  it  might  be,  in  bloodshed,  or  from 
playing  the  thief,  held  below  the  apostle's  regard,  or  even 
of  being  "  meddlers  in  other  men's  matters.''  * 

But  though  their  religion  was  vilified  as  mixed  up 
with  hateful  or  criminal  practices,  including  even  murder, 
which  was  apparently  imputed  to  them  in  connection 
with  their  rites,  as  it  has  been  even  in  our  own  day,  to 
the  Jews,  in  some  European  countries,^  there  is  no  sign 
that  the  more  dangerous  accusation  was  made  of  its  being 
perilous  to  the  State.  Hence  we  see  no  traces  of  persecu- 
tion by  the  imperial  authorities;  the  counsel  given  to 
be  "  subject  to  all  the  laws,  and  to  all  the  decrees  of 
magistrates  or  rulers,"  implying  that  they  enjoyed  peace 
under  them.^  They  were,  in  fact,  simply,  as  yet,  suffer- 
ing from  the  bad  name  given  them  by  heathen  and  Jews 
alike,  in  every  part  of  the  empire.      Still,  the  ill-will 

•  1  Pet.  iy.  15,  16,  comp.  i.  6 ;  iii.  14,  17  ;  iv.  14. 

5  1  Pet.  ii.  12  ;  iii.  16.  »  1  Pet.  ii.  12  ;  iv.  3.  ■*  1  Pet.  iv.  15. 

«  1  Pet.  ii.  12  ;  iv.  l.o.  e  1  Pet.  ii.  13. 

IV.  B 


18  ST.   PETER 

borne  them  was  not  without  disastrous  effects  in  some 
cases,  for  we  read  of  at  least  one  martyr,  at  Pergamos ;  ^ 
killed,  presumably,  in  some  popular  tumult. 

To  brethren  in  such  circumstances,  a  doctrinal  Epistle 
would  have  been,  we  may  fancy,  of  less  value  for  the 
moment,  than  the  practical  counsels  and  exhortations 
more  natural  to  our  apostle,  who  did  not  assume  the 
character  of  a  theological  teacher  in  any  systematic  way, 
like  a  learned  rabbi  such  as  St.  Paul.  It  is,  therefore, 
simply  devoted  to  encouragements,  warnings,  and  incite- 
ments to  keep  aloof  from  moral  dangers,  to  stand  firm 
in  their  faith,  not.  to  go  back  to  their  old  heathen  ways, 
and  to  endure  to  the  end,  since  all  their  present  sufferings 
were  ordained  for  their  eternal  good.^ 

The  Epistle  runs  as  follows  : — 

The  First  Epistle  General  of  Peter. 

I.  1.  Peter,  no  longer  Simon,  an  apostle  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  elect  who  are  sojourners  of  the  Dispersion  in 
Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia ;  2.  accord- 
ing to  the  foreknowledge  of  God  the  Father,  in  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  Spirit,  to  obedience  to  the  Gospel,  and  sprinkling 
of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ — your  admission  into  the  new 
Covenant  being  made  by  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ,  as 
Israel  was  admitted  to  the  old  Covenant  by  the  sprinkling  on 
them  of  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  which  confirmed  it :  ^  Grace 
to  you,  and  peace,  be  multiplied. 

Thanksgiving  for  the  blessings  of  Christianity  which 
outweigh,  immeasurably,  all  the  troubles  of  their  new 
posit^n. 

1  Rev.  ii.  13.  2  1  p^t.  iv.  12  ;  v.      ]2.  ^  Exod.  xxiv.  8. 


ST.   PETER 


19 


3.  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  according  to  His  great  mercy,  has  begotten  us  again  to 
a  living  hope,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the 
dead ;  4.  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  un defiled,  and 


Bottom  of  a  gilded  glass  found  in  the  Catacombs.  Peter  has  the  rod  of  Moses,  and 
is  striking  the  Rock,  as  the  successor  of  the  Head  of  the  Jewish  Church.  Christ 
had  delegated  it  to  Moses,  and,  after  His  own  ascension,  transferred  it,  as  was 
claimed,  to  Peter.  He  it  is  who  strikes  the  Spiritual  Rock,  and  l)rings  out  the 
Stream  of  Life,  a  conception  vividly  illustrating  the  metaphor  of  St.  Paul — "  They 
drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  that  followed  them,  and  that  rock  was  Christ " 
(1  Cor.  X.  4). 


that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you ;  5=  who,  by 
the  power  of  God,  are  safely  guarded  through  your  faith,  unto 
a  salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time,  now  near  at 
hand.^     6.  Wherein  ye  greatly  rejoice,  though  now,  for  a  little 

^  1  Pet.  iv.  7. 


20  BT.   PETER 

while,  till  Christ  come,  if  need  be,  ye  bave  been  put  to  grief 
by  many  temptations,  7.  that  the  proof  of  your  faith — more 
precious  than  gold  which  perishes  in  the  end.  even  though  it 
has  passed  the  test  of  fire, — may  be  found  triumphant,  to  your 
praise  and  glory  and  honour,  at  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
8.  whom  ye  love  though  you  have  not  yet  seen  Him ;  believing 
on  whom,  though  now  not  as  yet  seeing  Him,  ye  rejoice 
greatly,  with  joy  unspeakable  and  already  full  of  glory,  as  it 
were,  even  now  ;  9.  receiving  the  end  of  your  faith,  even  the 
salvation  of  your  souls. 

10.  Concerning  which  salvation  the  Prophets  closely  sought 
knowledge,  and  assiduously  searched  for  illumination — -who 
prophesied  of  the  grace  thus  to  come  to  you;  11.  seeking  to 
find  out  what  time,  or  what  sort  of  time — how  to  be  recognised 
— the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them — for  it  was  he  who 
spoke  through  them  ^  pointed  to,  when  it  testified  beforehand 
the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow  them. 
12.  To  whom  it  was  revealed  that  they  fore-announced,  not 
for  themselves,  but  for  you,  these  things  which  now  have  been 
made  known  to  you,  by  them  that  preached  the  Gospel  to  you 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  sent  forth  from  heaven  :  which  things 
even  angels  eagerly  desire  to  look  into ;  as  it  were,  bending 
forward  to  do  so. 

Their  duty  as  thus  so  greatly  favoured. 

13.  Wherefore,  girding  up  the  loins  of  your  mind,  as  the 
runner  girds  up  the  skirts  of  his  long  robe,  to  leave  his  limbs 
free,'^  be  sober-minded,  and  set  your  hope  confidently  and 
completely  on  the  grace  that  is  to  be  brought  to  you  at  the 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ;  14.  as  children  of  obedience,  not 
conforming  again  to  the  desires  you  had  in  the  time  of  your 
heathen  ignorance,  before  your  conversion;  15.  but  as  He, 
God,  who  called  you,^  is  holy,  so  be  ye  yourselves  also  holy,  in 

^  Luke  xii.  12  ;  xxi.  15  ;  John  xiv.  26. 
2  Eph.  vi.  14.  ^  I  Pet.  i.  2. 


ST.    PETER  21 

all  manner  of  living;  16.  because  it  is  written,  Ye  shall  he 
holy ;  for  I  am  holy} 

17.  And  if  ye  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who,  without  respect 
of  persons,  judges  according  to  each  man's  work,  pass  the 
time  of  your  sojourning,  for  on  earth  you  are  only  pilgrims 
on  the  way  to  God,^  in  fear  :  18.  knowing  that  ye  were 
redeemed,  not  with  perishable  things,  with  silver  or  gold,  from 
your  vain  manner  of  life  handed  down  from  your  fathers  ; 
19.  but  with  precious  blood,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and 
without  spot,  even  the  blood  of  Christ.  20.  Who,  indeed,  was 
forekno"wn  by  God  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  but  was 
manifested  at  the  end  of  the  times,^  for  your  sake  :  21.  who 
through  Him  are  believers  in  Go  1,  who  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  and  gave  Him  glory ;  so  that  your  faith  and  hope  might 
be  in  God. 

22,  Seeing  then  that  ye  have  purified  your  souls,  in  your 
obedience  to  the  truth,  which  leads  to  unfeigned  love  of  the 
brethren,  love  one  another  from  the  heart  fervently :  23. 
having  been  begotten  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of 
incorruptible,  through  the  living  and  imperishable  word  of 
God.  24.  For  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  (jlory  thereof 
as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  and  the  floiver 
fadeth:  25.  but  the  loord  of  the  Lord  abideth  for  ever.'^  And 
this  is  the  word  of  good  tidings  which  was  preached  to  you. 

II.  1.  Putting  away,  therefore,  all  wickedness,  and  all  guile, 
and  hypocrisies,  and  envies,  and  all  evil  speakings,  2.  as  new- 
born babes  seek  earnestly  the  spiritual  milk  that  is  without 
guile  offered  in  the  Word,^  that  we  may  grow  thereby,  unto 
salvation ;  3.  if  indeed  ye  have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is 
gracious.^  4.  To  whom  coming,  to  change  the  figure,  as  to  a 
living  foundation  stone,^  able,  as  such,  to  give  life  to  all  the 
spiritual  temple  raised  on  it,  rejected  indeed  of  men,  but 
chosen  by  God  and  precious,  5.  be  ye  also,  as  living  stones 

1  Lev.  xix.  2.  ^  i  p^t.  ii.  H  ;  ,'.  4.  3  j  p^.^.  \,  5  ;  Heb.  i.  2. 

*  Isa.  xl.  6-8.  5  1  Pet.  i.  23.  «  Ps.  xxxiv.  8. 

^  Ps.  cxviii.  22;  Ps.  xxviii.  16;  Matt.  xxi.  42;  Acts  iv.  11  ;  Rom. 
ix.  33. 


22  ST.    PETER 

are,  built  up  a  spiritual  house,  to  be  a  boly  priesthood,^  to 
offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices,  acceptable  to  God  through  Jesus 
Christ.  6.  This  is  sure,  because  it  stands  written  in  Scrip- 
ture :  BeJwId,  I  lay  in  Zion  a  chief  corner-stone,  elect,  j^t'ecioiis : 
and  he  that  heliereth  on  Him  shall  not  be  put  to  shame.  7.  For 
you,  therefore,  who  believe  is  the  preciousness :  but  for  such 
as  disbelieve,  The  stojie  lohich  the  huilders  rejected^  the  same 
'teas  made  the  head  of  the  corner:  8.  and,  A  stone  of  stumhling, 
and  a  rocJc  of  offence  ;  ^  for  they  stumble  because  they  are  dis- 
obedient to  the  Word  :  to  which  fate  also  they  were  appointed 
for  their  disobedience.  9.  But  ye  are  a  chosen  race,  a  royal 
priesthood,  a  holy  nation,  a  people  formed  by  God  for  Himself, 
as  His  own,^  that  ye  may  show  forth  the  glories  of  Him 
who  called  you  out  of  heathen  darkness  into  His  marvellous 
light :  10.  who  in  time  past  were  no  people,  but  now  are  the 
people  of  God  :  who  had  not  obtained  mercy,  but  now  have 
obtained  mercy. 

11.  Beloved,  I  beseech  you,  as  sojourners  and  pilgrims  in 
this  world,  to  keep  away  from  fleshly  lusts,  which  war  against 
the  soul;  12.  living  a  seemly  life  among  the  heathen  round 
you ;  that,  in  that  separation  from  heathen  ways  because  of 
which  they  speak  of  you  as  evil  doers,  they  may,  by  your 
good  works  which  they  behold,  glorify  God  in  the  day  of  His 
gracious  visitation,  bringing  them  repentance  and  mercy. 

The  fitting  relation  of  Christians  to  the  heathen 
authorities. 

13.  Bender  obedience  to  every  ordinance  of  man  for  the 
Lord's  sake;  whether  it  be  to  the  king,  as  supreme;  14.  or 
to  governors,  as  sent  by  him  for  the  punishment  of  evil  doers, 
and  for  the  approving  recognition  of  them  that  do  well. 
15.  For  so  is  the  will  of  God,  that  by  well  doing  ye  should 
put  to  silence  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men  :  16.  as  free,  not 
slaves,  bound  to  do  human  laws,  right  or  wrong,  and  yet 

^  Rev.  i.  6  J  V.  10  ;  xx.  6  ;  Exod.  xix.  6. 
^  Isa.  viii.  14.  ^  Isa.  xliii.  21. 


ST.    PETER  23 

not  using  your  freedom  for  a  cloak  of  wickedness,  but  acting 
as  the  bondservants  of  God.  17.  Honour  all  men.  Love  the 
brotherhood.     Fear  God.     Honour  the  king. 

The  fitting  relation  of  Christian  slaves  to  their  owners. 

18.  Ye  household  slaves,  be  subject  to  your  masters  with 
all  fear;  not  only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  but  also  to  the 
froward.  19.  For  this  is  acceptable  before  God,  if  for  con- 
science toward  God  to  hinder  any  reproach  on  Christianity  a 
man  silently  endure  griefs,  even  when  suffering  wrongfully. 
20.  For  what  credit  is  it,  if,  when  ye  do  wrong  and  get  blows 
for  it,  or  other  slave  punishment,  ye  shall  take  it  patiently  ? 
But  if,  when  ye  do  well  and  yet  suffer  for  it,  ye  shall  take  it 
patiently,  this  is  acceptable  with  God.  21.  For  God  requires 
you  as  called  by  Him  to  act  thus  :  because  Christ  also  suffered 
for  you,  leaving  you  an  example,  that  ye  should  follow  His 
steps.  22.  Who  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  His 
mouth :  23.  who,  when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again ; 
when  He  suffered,  threatened  not ;  but  committed  Himself  to 
Him  that  judgeth  righteously.  24.  Who,  His  own  self,  of  His 
free-will,  bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  upon  the  tree,  the 
punishment  of  slaves,  that  we  Christians,  having,  in  His 
death,  died  unto  sins,  the  sinful  life  of  the  past,  might  live 
unto  righteousness;  by  whose  stripes  ye  were  healed. ^  25. 
For  ye  were  going  astray  like  sheep ;  but  are  now  returned 
to  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  your  souls. 

The  poor  household  slaves  and  the  like,  of  whom  the 
churches  largely  consisted,  would  at  once  understand 
that  Christ  was  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their  souls 
intended,  since  the  head  of  the  little  company  of  Chris- 
tians to  which  they  belonged  was  indifferently  called  the 
one  or  the  other.  As  he  was  the  Shepherd  or  Bishop  of 
a  single  congregation,  Christ  naturally  was  honoured  as 
both,  towards  all  believers. 

^  laa.  liii.  5. 


24  ST.    PETER 

The    fitting    relations    of    married    women    to    theii 
husbands. 

III.  1.  In  like  manner,  ye  wives,  be  in  subjection  to  your 
own  husbands ;  that  even  if  any  obey  not  the  word,  they  may, 
without  having  the  word,  be  won  over  to  the  faith  by  the  life 
of  their  wives ;  2.  beholding  your  chaste  behaviour  shown  in 
your  modest  fear  of  coming  short  in  any  way  in  your  duty 
to  them.  3.  Whose  adorning,  let  it  not  be  the  outward 
adorning  of  plaiting  the  hair,  and  of  wearing  jewels  of  gold, 
or  of  putting  on  apparel ;  4.  but  let  it  be  the  adornment  of 
the  inner  man  of  the  heart,  in  the  incorruptible  charm  of  a 
meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is,  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  great 
price.  5.  For  in  this  way,  in  the  old  time,  did  the  holy 
women  also,  who  trusted  in  God,  adorn  themselves,  being 
in  subjection  to  their  own  husbands :  6.  as  Sarah  obeyed 
Abraham,  calling  him  lord :  ^  whose  children  ye  have 
become,  if  ye  do  well,  and  do  not  let  yourselves  be  put  in 
fear  by  any  terror  leading  you  to  make  unchristian  com- 
pliances either  to  your  husband  or  to  the  heathenism 
round  you. 

It  is  striking  to  find  the  apostle  telling  wives  that 
they  are  to  ''  be  in  subjection "  to  their  husbands, 
"in  the  same  manner,"  as  house-slaves  were  to  their 
masters,^  but  this  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  ideas  of 
antiquity.^ 

We  are  next  told  how  husbands  are  to  bear  themselves 
towards  their  wives. 

7.  Ye  husbands,  in  like  manner,  live  with  your  wives  as 
becomes  your  Christian  knowledge,  giving  honour  to  the 
woman  as  to  the  weaker  vessel,  not  treating  her  roughly,  or 
dismissing  her  even  if  still  unconverted,  but  thinking  of  her, 

^  Gen.  xviii.  12.  '^  I  Pet.  ii.  18  ;  iii.  1. 

5>  Eph.  V.  22-24  ;  Col.  iii.  18  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  9-15. 


ST.    PETER 


25 


as  being,  no  less  than  yourselves,  joint-heirs  of  the  grace  of 
eternal  life,  if  they  accept  it ;  that  your  prayers  for  yourself, 
or  for  her  conversion,  be  not  hindered  by  your  rjiworthiness. 

Summary  and  reinforcement  of  all  these  exhortations. 


t>5 


8.  Finally,  be  all  of  you,  like  minded,  full  of  kindly  feeling 
loving  each  other  as  Christian  brethren,  tender  -  hearted, 
humble-minded ;  9.  not  returning  evil  for  evil,  or  reviling 
for  reviling,  but,  contrariwise,  blessing  :  ^  for  ye  were  called 


im 


An  Egyptian  lady  with  her  ladys-maids  attending  on  her. 


for  the  very  end  that  ye  should  inherit  a  blessing,  and 
this  may  well  be  a  spur  to  your  seeking  blessings  on  others. 
10.  For  it  is  written.  He  that  would  love  life^  and  see  good 
days,  let  him  refrain  Ids  tongue  from  evil,  ami  his  lips,  that  they 
sj>eak  no  guile  :  11.  and  let  him  turn  away  from  evil,  and  do 
good ;  let  him  seek  peace,  and  pursue  it.  12.  For  the  eyes  of 
the  Lord  are  upon  the  righteous,  and  His  ears  are  open  to  their 
yrayer :  hut  the  face  of  the  Lord  is  upon  thei)i  iliat  do  evil, 
to  judge  them.'- 

1  Isa.  hii.  7  ;  Matt,  xxvii.  39  ;  John  viii.  48,  49. 

2  Ps.  xxxiv.  12-16,  LXX. 


26  ST.    PETER 

Eeal  harm  cannot  overtake  the  worthily-living  Chris- 
tian, for  even  suffering  for  his  faith  is  a  blessing  in 
the  end. 

13.  And  if  all  this  be  so,  who  is  he  who  will  harm  you,  if 
ye  be  zealots  for  what  is  good?  14.  But  even  if  ye  suffer  for 
righteousness'  sake,  ye  are  still  blessed.  Have  therefore  no 
fear  of  them,  your  persecutors,  and  do  not  be  disquieted  :  15. 
but  sanctify  the  Lord  Christ  in  your  hearts ;  ready,  always,  to 
give  answer  to  every  one  who  asks  j'^ou  for  a  justification  of 
the  hope  that  is  in  you ;  yet  with  meekness,  and  fear  of  God  : 
16.  having  a  good  conscience;  that  as  concerns  those  points 
on  which  you  are  spoken  against,  they  may  be  put  to 
shame,  who  revile  your  good  manner  of  hfe  in  Christ.  17. 
For  it  is  better  that  ye  suffer  for  well  doing,  if  it  be  the  will 
of  God  that  ye  do  suffer,  than  for  evil  doing.  18.  Because 
Christ  also  suffered  for  sins  once,  a  righteous  one  for  the 
unrighteous,  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God ;  being  put  to 
death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  in  the  spirit  to  a  new 
higher  life  ;  19.  in  w^hich  nature  also,  he  went  and  preached 
to  the  spirits  in  prison,  20.  who  in  former  times  were  dis- 
obedient, when  the  long-suffering  of  God  waited,  in  the  days 
of  Noah,  while  the  Ark  was  preparing  :  in  which  a  few  souls, 
that  is,  eight,  were  saved  through  water. 

21.  Which  also, — the  water  of  Noah's  flood — in  its  antitype, 
or  anticipatory  image  of  a  type — baptism — now  saves  you,  as 
the  water  did  those  saved  in  the  Ark ;  not,  however,  the  mere 
putting  away  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the  questioning  and 
answers  at  baptism  of  one  who  has  a  good  conscience  toward 
God — through  loving,  obedient  faith  in  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ ;  22.  who  is  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  having 
gone  into  heaven ;  angels,  and  authorities,  and  powers,  being 
made  subject  to  Him.^ 

The  fitting  results  on  Christians  of  their  Lord  having 
thus  suffered  for  them. 

1  Heb.  i.  6,  13;  iv.  14;  vi.  20. 


ST.   PETER  27 

IV.  1.  Forasmuch,  then,  as  Christ  suffered  in  the  flesh,  arm 
ye  yourselves  also  with  the  same  mind,  to  be  willing,  like  Him, 
to  suffer  even  to  death ;  for  he  that  has  suffered  in  the  fl.esh  has 
shown  himself  a  sincere  Christian  who  has  ceased  from  sin ; 
2.  this  suffering  having  been  sent  you  that  ye  should  live  no 
longer,  the  rest  of  your  time  in  the  flesh,  to  the  lusts  of  men, 
— but  to  the  will  of  God.  3.  For  the  time  past  may  suffice  to 
have  wrought  the  evil  which  is  the  desire  of  the  heathen,  and  to 
have  walked  in  lasciviousness,  lusts,  drunkenness,  wine-feasts, 
bacchanalian  excesses,  and  abominable  idol  rites ;  4,  your  not 
running  into  the  same  excess  of  riot,  in  these  ways,  as  they, 
the  heathen  do,  being  thought  by  them  strange,  and  making 
them  speak  evil  of  you :  5.  who  shall  give  account,  however, 
not  to  them,  but  to  Him  who  is  about  to  judge  the  quick  and 
the  dead.  6.  For  to  this  end  was  the  gospel  preached  even  to 
the  brethren  now  dead,  that  they  might  be  judged  according 
to  men  in  the  flesh — persecuted  and  defamed, — but  live 
according  to  God  in  the  Spirit — here,  and  beyond. 

The  great  consolation,  amidst  surrounding  dangers  of 
temptation  and  impending  persecution,  is  that  "  the  end  of 
all  things  is  at  hand ;"  a  thought  that  may  well  rouse  them 
to  earnestness  in  all  the  graces  and  duties  of  the  Faith. 
Peter,  like  the  other  apostles,  regards  Christ's  Coming  as 
very  near,  and  as  bringing  with  it  the  close  of  the  existing 
state  of  things :  the  judgment  of  the  heathen  and  im- 
penitent, and  the  glory  of  believers. 

7.  But  the  end  of  all  thinofs  is  at  hand  :  be  thoucrhtful- 
minded,  therefore:  having  your  spirit  always  sobered  into 
the  frame  for  prayer.  8.  Above  all  things,  being  fervent  in 
your  love  among  yourselves  :  for,  to  use  the  Jewish  proverb, ^ 
love  covers  a  multitude  of  sins  in  our  fellows  :  9.  usino- 
hospitality  to  one  another  without  murmuring  at  inconveni- 
ences it  may  cause.     10.  According  as  each  one  of  you  has 

^  Prov.  X.  12. 


28  ST.    PETER 

received  a  spiritual  gift,  see  to  your  making  use  of  it  among 
yourselves,  as  churches,  as  becomes  good  stewards  of  the  mani- 
fold grace  of  God.  11.  If  any  man  has  the  gift  of  speaking 
in  the  congregation,  let  him  speak  as  it  were  communica- 
tions from  God ;  if  any  man  serve  in  any  other  way,  in  the 
brotherhood,  let  him  do  so  as  inspired  by  the  strength  which 
God  supplies  :  that  in  all  things  done,  God  may  be  glorified, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  is  the  glory  and  the  dominion 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

The  Churches  are  already  suffering  from  their  enemies, 
and  the  apostle  directs  them  how  to  meet  these  trials. 

1 2.  Beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  the  fiery  trial 
now  broken  out  among  you, — which  comes  on  you  to  prove 
you  1 — as  though  a  strange  thing  happened  to  you :  13.  but 
so  far  as  ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings,  rejoice  in  the 
fact  that,  at  the  revelation  of  His  glory,  ye  may  also  rejoice 
with  exceeding  joy.  14.  If  ye  be  reproached  for  the  name  of 
Christ,  because  you  are  His,  ye  are  blessed,  because  the  Spirit 
of  glory  and  of  God  rests  upon  you. 

15.  For  you  must  let  no  one  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or 
a  thief,  or  as  an  evil  doer,  or  as  a  meddler  in  matters  that  do 
not  concern  him;  16.  but  if  a  man  suffer  as  a  Christian,  let 
him  not  be  ashamed ;  but  let  him  glorify  God  in  bearing  this 
name  of  Christian.  17.  For  the  time  is  come  for  judgment 
to  begin  at  the  house  of  God, — the  members  of  his  family,  tha 
Church ; — and  if  it  begin  first  with  us,  what  will  the  end  be 
of  them  that  do  not  obey  the  gospel  of  God  1  18.  And  if  the 
righteous — the  true  member  of  God's  house  or  family — is  with 
difficulty  saved  from  giving  way  before  the  present  fiery  trial 
of  his  faith,  and  finds  it  hard  to  be  ready  for  the  great  day, 
where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear  when  it  comes  1 
19.  Let,  then,  those  who  suffer  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
commit  their  souls  to  a  faithful  Creator,  with  patient  con- 


tinuance in  doing  well. 


^  1  Pet.  i.  6  fif. 


ST.    PETER  29 

Exhortations  as  to  the  inner  life  of  the  various  churches, 
in  the  different  orders  composing  them. 

V.  1.  The  elders,  that  is,  the  "presbyters,"  "overseers," 
or  "bishops"  among  you — the  various  churches  I  address — 
I  therefore  exhort,  who  am  also  a  fellow  elder  or  presbyter, 
and  a  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  also  a  partaker 
of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  at  Christ's  coming.  2.  Take 
a  shepherd's  care  of  the  flock  of  God  which  is  among  you, 
discharging  your  office  as  overseers  not  unwillingly,  but  with 
the  heart,  as  God  requires  ;  and  not  for  the  sake  of  filthy 
lucre,  but  from  a  love  of  the  work  :  3.  neither  as  lording  it 
over  your  respective  charges — as  presbyter-bishops  of  the 
separate  churches,  but  making  yourselves  ensamples  to  the 
flock. 

The  word  translated  "  charges "  is  plural ;  showing 
that  the  different  presbyters  addressed  had  each  a  distinct 
congregation  under  his  superintendence.  This  explanation 
of  the  verse  is  supported  by  Huther,  Wiesinger,  De  Wette, 
and  Von  Soden,  among  others. 

4.  And  when  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  be  revealed,  ye 
shall  receive  the  unfading  amaranth-crown  of  glory.  5. 
Likewise,  ye  younger  men,  serving  in  any  way,  in,  or 
for,  the  congregation,  be  subject  to  the  elders,  your  rulers. 
Yea,  all  of  you,  gird  yourselves  with  humility,  to  serve  one 
another;  gird  yourself  with  it,  I  say,  as  your  "Enkombomo," 
which  you  know,  is  the  long  coarse  apron  or  frock  worn  by 
slaves  at  their  work :  for  God  sets  Himself  against  the 
proud,  but  shows  favour  to  the  humble.^  6.  Humble  your- 
selves, therefore,  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God,  that  He 
may  exalt  you  at  the  appointed  time ;  ^  7.  casting  all  your 
anxious  care  on  Him,  for  He  careth  for  you.  8.  Be  sober- 
minded,  be  watchful ;  your  accuser   before   God,   the  devil, ^ 

1  Prov.  iii.  34.  -  1  Pet.  i.  7  ;  iv.  13.  ^  ^g^  xii.  10. 


30  ST.    PETER 

as  a  roaring  lion,  walketh  about,  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour  :  9.  whom  resist,  strong  in  your  faith,  knowing  that 
the  same  sufferings  are  being  endured  by  your  brethren  who 
are  anywhere  in  the  world.  10.  Bat  the  God  of  all  grace, 
who  has  called  you  to  His  eternal  glory  in  Christ  —  after 
that  ye  have  suffered  a  little  while — shall  himself  make  you 
perfect,  stablish  you  firmly  in  your  faith,  and  strengthen  you 
to  overcome  every  adversary.  11.  To  Him  be  the  dominion 
for  ever  and  ever,  Amen. 

12.  By  Silvanus,  our  faithful  brother,  in  my  opinion,  I  have 
written  to  you  briefly,  exhorting  you,  and  testifying  that 
this  to  which  I  exhort  you,  is  the  true  grace  of  God :  stand 
ye  fast  in  it.  13.  She,  the  Church,  in  Babylon,  elect  together 
with  you,  salutes  you ;  ^  and  so  does  Mark,  my  son.  14. 
Salute  one  another  with  a  kiss  of  love. 

Peace  be  to  you  all  that  are  in  Christ. 

^  The  feminine  article  only  is  used,  and  hence  the  Revised  Version 
begins  the  verse  with  "  She,"  but  the  word  for  "  Church  "  is  feminine,  and 
it  is  natural  that  St.  Peter  should  personify  it  by  tlie  article. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF   PETER 

That  the  claim  of  the  Sacred  Books  to  their  august 
authority,  should  be  a  matter  beyond  reasonable  question, 
is  an  indispensable  condition  of  our  confidence  in  their 
teaching.  To  censure  the  closest  criticism  of  any  of  them 
is,  therefore,  not  only  a  distrust  of  its  right  to  a  place  in 
the  Canon,  but  saps  the  very  basis  of  our  faith.  Yet  it 
is  no  easy  task  to  come  to  unchallengeable  conclusions, 
for  nothing  is  more  easy  than  to  suggest  difficulties  as  to 
the  authorship  of  any  ancient  documents,  especially  when 
two  or  more  writings  are  ascribed  to  the  same  person. 
Indeed,  even  when  a  single  composition  is  dissected,  we 
may  find  plausible  reasons,  if  it  be  at  all  long,  for  regard- 
ing it  as  the  work  of  various  men,  perhaps  in  different 
ages.  We  see  this  in  the  case  of  the  Iliad,  over  which  the 
fiercest  controversy  raged  in  the  last  century;  some  main- 
taining that  it  was  the  work  of  a  succession  of  poets, 
during  unknown  periods ;  others,  that  it  bore  clear  proofs 
of  being  the  production  of  one  mind.  All  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament  have  been  rightly  subjected  to  criti- 
cism as  keen,  but  have,  as  the  result,  been  finally  set  on 
a  foundation  of  evidence  in  their  favour  such  as  their 
claims  demand. 

Of  all  the  portions  of  the  New  Testament,  none  has 
been  more  freely  challenged,  or  more  sharply  disputed, 

31 


82  ST.    PETER 

than  the  Second  Epistle  of  St.  Peter.  The  revolutionary 
school  of  modern  critics,  indeed,  have  maintained  that  a 
false  Peter,  at  a  later  time,  composed  it,  unskilfully,  by 
a  free  use  of  the  Epistle  of  Jude ;  but  in  this  case,  as  in 
so  many  others,  where  modern  scholars  have  started 
strange  theories,  the  old  flag  still  waves,  when  the  grounds 
of  the  demand  that  we  strike  it  are  fairly  sifted. 

The  differences  in  the  style  of  the  two  Epistles  ascribed 
to  St.  Peter  early  led  to  the  second  being  regarded  as, 
perhaps,  not  by  the  apostle.  Thus  Eusebius^  tells  us 
that,  though  not,  in  his  day,  fully  accepted  by  the  Churches 
as  one  of  the  sacred  books,  yet  as  "it  appeared  useful  to 
many,  it  was  studiously  read  with  the  other  Scriptures."  ^ 
Origen,  also,  is  quoted  by  him  as  saying  that  there  is 
some  doubt  of  its  being  genuine,  but  he  personally  held 
it  to  be  so,  as  he  quotes  it  once  and  again  in  his  Homilies. 
Hesitation  in  accepting  an  epistle  as  undoubtedly  apos- 
tolic only  shows,  however,  the  jealous  care  of  the  early 
Christians  to  have  the  fullest  proofs  of  its  being  so,  before 
they  admitted  it,  without  question,  into  the  Canon,  and  it 
is  a  great  point  in  its  favour,  that  so  critical  a  mind  as 
that  of  Origen  was  satisfied  there  were  no  grounds  for 
disputing  its  sacred  worth.^  From  his  time,  moreover, 
doubts  respecting  it  gradually  passed  away,  until,  in  the 
fourth  century,*  it  received  definite  recognition  as  of  in- 
spired authority.  Nor  are  there  wanting  signs  of  its 
having  been  known  and  quoted  very  soon  after  the  apos- 
tolic age,  for  the  latest  and  most  acutely  critical  edition 
of  the  "  Shepherd  of  Hermas "  ^  notices  no  fewer  than 
seven  places  which  present  parallels  to  the  language  of  our 

^  c.  A.D.  264-340.  2  jj  ^_  iii  3^  3  Origen,  a.d.  185-253. 

4  A.D.  300-400.  ^  c.  A.D.  150. 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER  33 

Epistle  more  or  less  striking,  though  there  are  no  direct 
quotations.^  It  appears,  in  fact,  that  the  Epistle  was  in 
use  among  Christians  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
though  the  earliest  Church  teachers  made  no  express  re- 
ferences to  it;  that  in  the  third  century,  the  anxious  fears 
of  some  still  hesitated  respecting  it,  not  on  historical  but 
on  internal  grounds ;  but  that,  in  the  end,  its  genuineness 
had  been  fully  recognised  by  the  Church,  and  a  place  given 
it  in  the  Canon,  some  time  before  a.d.  400. 

This  evidence  from  external  sources  may  be  hardly 
conclusive,  but  any  argument  such  as  that  of  the  critics, 
from  merely  negative  objections,  must  be  very  doubtful. 
It  cannot  be  forgotten,  for  example,  that  the  mention  of 
Sargon,  by  Isaiah,^  as  a  king  of  Assyria,  v^as  vigorously 
urged  by  the  higher  criticism,  as  an  instance  of  the 
historical  untrustworthiness  of  the  prophet,  since  no 
mention  was  to  be  found  of  such  a  name,  in  any  list  of 
Assyrian  kings  that  had  come  down  to  us.  Yet,  on  the 
spade  opening  the  mounds  of  Nineveh,  it  was  discovered 
that  Isaiah  was  right,  and  that  Sargon  had  been  one  of 
the  greatest  Sultans  of  Assyria. 

When,  moreover,  we  turn  to  the  internal  evidence  of 
the  genuineness  of  our  Epistle,  little  ground,  indeed,  is  left, 
in  my  judgment,  for  hesitation  in  regarding  it  as  no  less 
canonical  than  the  First  Epistle,  which  all  accept  as  by 
St.  Peter.  The  language  of  the  writer  speaks,  beforehand, 
against  his  being  a  mere  literary  forger,  for  he  tells  his 
readers  that  his  faith  in  Christ  is  precious  to  him;  he 
speaks  as  one  who  rejoices  in  the  grace  and  peace  obtained 
through  Christ,  and  breathes,  throughout,  the  loftiest 
spirituality  and  earnestness  of  aim.     It  may  be  said,  how- 

^  Pat.  Apost.  Op.  Gebhardt  and  Harnack.  ^  Isa.  xx.  1. 

IV.  C 


34  ST.  PETER 

ever,  that  the  name  of  the  apostle  may  have  been  assumed, 
as  in  some  other  cases,  by  a  good  man,  to  give  authority 
to  his  words.  But  when  we  find  the  writer  stating  that 
he  had  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  Transfiguration,  and 
that  "  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  signified  to  him  that  the 
putting  off  of  his  tabernacle  was  near  at  hand ; "  ^  when, 
moreover,  we  find  him  speaking  of  St.  Paul  as  a  beloved 
brother  and  fellow-apostle,^  it  is  surely  impossible  that 
any  one  could  have  ventured  on  such  presumption  and 
deception,  and  that  the  Epistle  must,  indeed,  be  written, 
as  it  claims  to  be,  by  •'  Simon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle 
of  Jesus  Christ."  Could  one,  who  expressly  repudiates 
"  cunningly  devised  fables,"  have  invented  so  audacious 
a  fraud  as  to  ascribe  to  the  apostle  the  authorship  of  an 
Epistle  with  which  he  had  nothing  to  do  ? 

Criticism  has  further  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that  it 
attaches  great  importance  to  "  knowledge,"  while  the  First 
Epistle  speaks  rather  of  "  hope,"  but  surely  this  is  of  little 
weight.  In  the  First,  it  is  further  urged,  the  coming  of 
Christ  is  "  near ;  "  in  the  Second,  it  is  "  sudden ; "  but  the 
one  idea  in  no  way  excludes  the  other ;  and  the  Second, 
it  is  further  said,  dwells  on  "  the  end  of  the  world,"  while 
the  First  is  occupied  with  the  return  of  Christ.  But  it 
is  unnecessary  to  go  more  fully  into  details  of  which 
these  are  a  fair  sample.  That  the  style  of  the  two 
Epistles,  and  the  points  mentioned,  are  more  or  less 
different,  is  surely  to  be  explained,  without  any  strain- 
ing, from  the  different  thoughts  of  one  mind  specially 
occupied,  at  different  times,  by  this  or  that  subject; 
from  the  lapse  of  time,  and  from  the  different  aim  of  the 
two  Epistles ;  the  object  of  the  First  being,  to  rouse  the 

^  2  Pet.  i.  14,  16-18.  ^  2  Pet.  iii.  15,  16. 


THE   SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  35 

Churches  to  withstand  persecution,  while  that  of  the 
Second  is  rather  to  guard  them  from  being  led  astray  by 
growing  heresy. 

Stress  has  been  laid  on  the  correspondences  between 
our  Epistle  and  that  of  Jude,^  as  proof  that  the  former 
must  be  of  later  origin  than  the  lifetime  of  Peter;  it 
being  assumed  that  Jude  was  the  earlier  of  the  two 
documents.  But  proof  is  wholly  wanting  that  Jude  was 
written  before  our  Epistle.  It  is  held  to  be  the  simpler, 
but  that  does  not  show  priority,  since  the  copyist  may 
have  taken  only  what  he  chose  from  the  fuller  writing. 
The  false  teachers  denounced  are  only,  it  is  said,  foretold 
in  our  Epistle,  while  they  are  already  active  in  Jude. 
But  that  "destructive  heresies,"  or,  rather,  "sects  of 
perdition,"  ^  were  yet  to  develop  worse  teaching  than  had 
already  been  known,  was  inevitable,  though  heresies 
enough  had  risen  even  in  past  years. 

The  opposing  theories  as  to  the  date  of  the  Epistle,  where 
its  authorship  by  St.  Peter  is  rejected,  show  how  much 
that  is  arbitrary  and  conjectural  enters  into  the  criticism 
of  even  the  most  learned  and  careful.  To  one,  it  seems 
to  show  proof  of  having  been  written  at  the  beginning 
of  the  second  century ;  to  another,  of  dating  from  the 
middle  of  it ;  and  to  a  third,  from  its  close.^  But  the 
pastoral  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  and  the  Apocalypse  of  St. 
John  assure  us,  that  the  heretics  whom  our  Epistle 
condemns  had  already  appeared  in  just  those  years  in 
which,  shortly  before  the  death  of  St.  Peter,  the  Epistle 
must  have  been  written.     That  they  grew  darker  and 

1  Comp.  Jufle  4,  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  16,  with  2  Pet.  ii.  1,  4,  6, 
10,  11,  12,  13,  15,  17,  18  ;  Jude  17,  18,  with  2  Pet.  iii.  2,  3. 

^  2  Peter  ii.  1.  *  Huther,  MayerhofF,  Schwegler. 


36  ST.   PETER 

more  deadly  as  time  passed,  was  only  what  must  have 
happened.  The  work  of  Paul  was  closed,  and  it  well 
became  Peter  to  raise  his  warning  voice,  before  he,  also, 
had  perished. 

What  those  heresies,  so  widely  spread  in  Asia  Minor 
in  the  later  apostolic  age,  were,  is  not  easy  to  tell  with 
any  minute  exactness,  but  their  general  features  may  be 
gathered  from  the  various  notices  of  them  in  the  apostolic 
writings.  The  Judaising  section  of  the  Churches  had  at 
first  confined  itself  to  demanding  that  the  Mosaic  Law,  as 
expanded  indefinitely  by  the  rabbis,  should  be  regarded 
as  essential  to  the  saving  efficacy  of  Christianity.  But 
in  an  age  so  morally  corrupt,  amidst  populations  largely 
Eastern  in  their  origin,  mingled  with  representatives  of 
every  nation  of  the  Mediterranean  border,  it  was  inevit- 
able that  the  pure  stream  of  the  new  faith  should  ere  long 
catch  a  taint  from  flowing  through  such  a  soil.  The 
extravagance  of  Oriental  imagination,  the  sensuality  of 
the  lands  of  the  Sun,  the  wild  excesses  of  half-reclaimed 
barbarism  in  native  races,  the  thousand  speculations  on 
nature,  man,  and  the  Unseen,  which  delighted  an  age 
in  which  the  religions  of  past  generations  no  longer 
satisfied  the  cravings  of  the  mind  or  heart,  created  a 
state  of  things  in  which  the  clear  light  of  Christianity 
was  sadly  clouded  or  turned  aside.  The  Churches  of 
Lesser  Asia  found  themselves  in  contact  with  every  form 
of  sin,  consecrated  to  the  worship  of  the  gods.  Impurity 
had  its  headquarters  in  the  temples  of  Venus.  Nature 
worship,  which  was  the  prevalent  religion,  threw  the 
reins  on  the  neck  of  sensuality ;  every  form  of  the  black 
arts,  astrology,  spells,  magic  rites  and  formulas,  incanta- 
tions, necromancy,  interpretation  of  dreams,  the  science 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER  37 

of  omens,  and  much  else,  held  the  souls  of  the  population 
at  large  in  bondage  to  the  most  abject  superstitions,  and 
a  prey  to  the  vilest  impostors  from  all  lands.  The  dis- 
putatious loquacity  of  the  Greek  races  was  a  constant 
element  of  disturbance  in  the  Churches,  as  we  see  in  that 
of  Corinth — a  characteristic  marking  them  in  after  ages 
also.  "  Constantinople,"  says  an  unknown  writer  quoted 
by  Gibbon,^  "is  full  of  mechanics  and  slaves,  who  all  of 
them  are  profound  theologians,  and  preach  in  the  shops 
and  in  the  streets.  If  you  desire  a  man  to  change  a 
piece  of  silver,  he  informs  you  wherein  the  Son  differs 
from  the  Father ;  if  you  ask  the  price  of  a  loaf,  you  are 
told,  by  way  of  reply,  that  the  Son  is  inferior  to  the 
Father ;  and  if  you  inquire  whether  the  bath  is  ready, 
the  answer  is,  that  the  Son  was  made  out  of  nothing." 
Persian  philosophy  and  theology  filled  the  air  with 
speculations  respecting  the  Godhead,  the  origin  of  evil, 
the  nature  of  spirits  and  their  offices,  ranks,  and  relation 
to  the  divine  Essence,  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  matter, 
and  a  thousand  other  metaphysical  questions  which  easily 
led  to  debasing  corruptions  of  Christian  doctrine,  and 
wild  perversion  of  its  whole  character  and  spirit.  The 
utter  decay  of  faith  in  the  religions  of  the  past,  the 
confounding  of  all  local  institutions  by  the  political 
changes  of  Greek  and  Eoman  conquest,  the  unsettling 
of  all  minds  except  the  most  degraded,  by  the  compe- 
tition of  countless  new  modes  of  thought,  inevitable  from 
the  mingling  of  all  nationalities  in  the  great  centres  of 
commerce  under  the  broad  aegis  of  the  Eoman  Peace, 
left  the  Christian  communities  open  to  the  seductions  of 
adventurers  of  every  shade  of  current  thought  and  morals 

^  Decline  and  Fall,  v.  17. 


38  ST.   PETER 

No  religious  society  can  protect  itself  against  the  entrance 
of  unworthy  members,  even  in  its  earlie&t  days.  Tem- 
porary excitement  may  attract  minds,  perfectly  sincere 
for  the  time,  but  with  "  no  deepness  of  earth ; "  leaving 
them,  when  their  passing  enthusiasm  has  died  away,  with 
all  the  baser  alloy  of  their  nature  unchanged.  The 
twelve  had  an  Iscariot  among  them,  and  the  shadow  of 
Pentecost  fell  on  an  Ananias  and  Sapphira  in  the  Church 
at  Jerusalem,  and,  a  little  later,  many  deliberately  "false 
brethren  "  joined,  through  fanatical  motives,  or  for  ambi- 
tion, or  even  worse  ends. 

That  a  religion  like  that  of  Christ  should  escape  the 
utmost  dangers  from  such  causes,  was  not  to  be  expected 
in  an  age,  when  the  break-up  of  the  very  foundations  of 
all  ancient  faiths,  had  filled  the  world  with  pretenders 
to  new  religions  which  should  take  the  place  of  those 
which  were  passing  away.  One  may  easily  imagine  that 
the  intrusion  into  Christianity  of  theological  dreamers, 
fanatics,  charlatans,  and  vicious  impostors,  from  the  Babel 
of  creeds  and  systems  of  all  races,  may  have  led  to  the 
new  faith  becoming,  undeservedly,  a  byword  among  its 
enemies  for  licentiousness,  as  we  find  it  did,  and  to  its 
being  fancied  by  even  such  lofty  minds  as  that  of  Tacitus, 
only  "  a  hateful  superstition,"  infamous  for  the  "  shameful 
and  abominable  crimes"  of  its  adherents.  Nor  can  we 
wonder  at  this,  when  we  read  the  character  of  the  heresies 
which  soon  manifested  themselves,  as  painted  by  several 
of  the  apostles.  Thus  Paul  speaks  of  false  teachers  in 
the  Churches,  displaying  "the  working  of  Satan,  with 
all  power,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders;"^  of  "seduc- 
ing spirits,"  teaching  "  doctrines  of  demons,  through  the 

^  2  Thess.  ii,  9. 


THE  SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER  39 

hypocrisy  of  men  that  speak  lies,  branded,  in  their  own 
conscience,  as  with  a  hot  iron ; "  ^  of  such  agents  of  Satan 
being  "  men  corrupted  in  mind,  reprobate  concerning  the 
faith,"  and  like  the  sorcerers  of  the  Pharaohs,  in  old 
time.^  In  similar  strains  St.  John  and  other  apostles 
speak  of  "  the  synagogue  of  Satan,"  of  "  the  false  prophet," 
of  ''  the  Antichrists,"  "  the  spirits  that  were  to  be  tried, 
whether  they  were  of  God,"  and  of  the  morality  of  the 
doctrines  taught  being  as  hateful  as  the  wickedness  of 
Balaam  or  Jezebel.^ 

These  deadly  assaults  on  Christian  doctrine  differed 
greatly  from  the  attacks  of  the  Judaisers  on  the  teaching 
of  St.  Paul,  but  they  sprang  from  Jewish  sources,  and 
still  bore  the  marks  of  their  origin,  in  their  pandering 
to  Jewish  prejudices,  and  their  colouring  by  the  baser 
extravagances  and  corruptions  of  Jewish  superstition. 
Paul  being  dead,  he  was  no  longer  the  special  object  of 
hatred,  but  if  the  hostility  to  him  and  his  school,  for  not 
accepting  Judaism  as  essential,  had  comparatively  died 
away,  it  was  followed,  on  a  narrower  theatre,  by  much 
more  dangerous  outbreaks  of  malignity.  Formerly  raging 
from  Palestine  to  Italy,  the  new  anti-Christian  crusade 
was  mainly  confined  to  the  half-eastern,  half-western 
regions  of  Proconsular  Asia,  Ephesus  being  its  head- 
quarters, as  befitted  the  seat  of  Diana-worship  and  centre 
of  all  forms  of  debased  superstition.  Paul,  indeed,  had 
foreseen  that  it  would  be  so,  and  had  cautioned  the 
Ephesian  Christians  against  the  "grievous  wolves  "who 
would   enter    among   them,*  and   Peter   and   Jude   had 

^  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  2.  ^2  Tim.  iii.  8,  9. 

*  Rev.  ii.  9,  13  ;  xvi.  13  ;  xix.  20  ;  xx.  10  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  1 ;  1  John  iv.  1  ; 
2  Pet.  ii.  15 ;  Rev.  ii.  14,  20  ;  Jude  11.        ^   Acts  xx.  29. 


40  ST.    PETER 

addressed  their  Epistles,  warning  against  these  foes  of 
the  truth,  to  the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor. 

That  the  disturbers  of  these  Churches  were  Jews,  is 
evident,  from  St.  Paul  telling  us  that  they  laid  stress  on 
circumcision,^  and  desired  to  be  teachers  of  the  law ,2  and 
also  from  their  enforcing  on  their  adherents  scrupulous 
attention  to  "  meat  and  drink,  holy  days,  new  moons  and 
sabbaths,"  and  their  teaching  "Jewish  fables  and  com- 
mandments of  men.^  But  with  these  they  had  mingled 
many  Oriental  elements,  such  as  the  emanation  of  all 
spiritual  essences,  of  whatever  dignity,  from  tliat  of  God, 
worshipping  angels,  dwelling  in  idle  speculation  in  the 
things  man  has  not  seen,  discoursing  about  "  myths  and 
endless  genealogies,"  that  is,  ranks  and  subordinations  of 
spiritual  beings,  and  so  adopting  the  Eastern  doctrine 
of  the  inherent  malignity  of  matter,  as  to  forbid  their 
followers  to  marry,  and  urging  an  unhealthy  mortifica- 
tion of  the  body,  with  many  other  "profane  and  vain, 
babblings  and  oppositions  to  the  truth  of  the  '  Gnosis,' 
or  'knowledge,'  that  is  falsely  so  called."^  Many  of 
these  speculative  vagaries  were,  indeed,  gradually  incor- 
porated in  Jewish  theology,  and  are  now  to  be  found  in 
the  Talmud.  Gnostic  "  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after 
the  tradition  of  men  "  had,  in  truth,  deeply  infected  the 
Jews,  themselves  Orientals.  The  worship  of  angels, 
moreover,  was  already  much  in  favour  in  Phrygia,  as 
we  see  from  St.  Paul  warning  the  Colossians  against  it, 
and  it  was  still   so  strong,  more   than    three   centuries 

1  Col.  ii.  11-14.  2  1  Tjj^  •_  ^_ 

3  Col.  ii.  16  ;  Gal.  iv.  10  ;  Rom.  xiv.  3  ;  Titus  i.  14. 

4  Col.  i.  16;  ii.  8,  11-14,  18,  20,  21,  23;  1  Tim.  iv.  1-3,  7;  vi.  20, 
i.  7-20 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  18. 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF   PETER  41 

later,  as  to  be  condemned  by  the  Council  of  Laodicea  as 
idolatrous.^ 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  restless  hatred  of  the 
Jew  towards  the  Gentile,  and  his  dream  of  a  world-over- 
turning Messianic  revolution  in  his  favour,  spread  the 
spirit  of  political  agitation,  no  less  than  of  wild  theological 
speculation  through  the  Churches,  everywhere  containing, 
as  they  did,  a  proportion  of  Jewish  converts  from  even 
the  extreme  zealots  of  their  faith,  who  inflamed  and  led 
astray  the  minds  of  too  many  of  their  heathen-born  fellow- 
Christians.  The  constant  exhortations  to  submissive 
loyalty  which  mark  the  Epistles  imply  a  danger  of  the 
want  of  it.2  The  grosser  teaching  of  some,  in  those  days 
when  every  one  who  chose  spoke  in  the  Christian  meetings, 
and  when  even  the  women  essayed  to  do  so,  would  find 
a  ready  soil  in  the  frightful  immorality  of  the  times,  and 
makes  it  possible  to  understand  the  warnings  against  the 
worst  sins  and  crimes,  which  are  pressed,  again  and  again, 
on  the  Churches,  by  the  apostles.^ 

This  anarchic  and  licentious  spirit,  though  prevalent 
everywhere,  showed  itself  in  its  worst  excess  in  the 
Churches  of  Lesser  Asia.  Before  St.  Paul  had  closed 
his  labours,  its  lowering  cloud,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
called  forth  his  warnings  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus,*  and  in 
his  letters  to  Titus  and  Timothy.^  Along  with  Oriental 
doctrines  of  ''severity  to  the  body,"^  there  was  found 
the  contempt  of  all  morality,   on    the   ground    that,  as 

^  Ramsay's  "  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,"  477. 
2  Rom.  xiii.  1-8  ;  Tit.  iii.  1  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  13,  17. 

=*  1  Thess.  iv.  1-8  ;  1  Cor.   v.  vi.  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  11-18  ;  R(  m.  xiii.  13,  14  ; 
Gal.  V.  19.  4  Acts  xx.  29. 

5  Tit.  i.  14-17  ;  iii.  1  flf ;  2  Tim.  i.  15  ;  ii.  IG  ff ;  iii.  1-8,  13  ;  iv.  3,  4. 
«  Col.  ii.  23. 


42  ST.    PETER 

Christians,  the  Law  had  nothing  more  to  do  with  them, 
while  as  heirs  of  the  Messianic  kingdom,  presently  to  be 
set  up  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  they  owed  no  obedience 
to  existing  authorities.  It  is  extraordinary  to  read  the 
forebodings,  or  even  realised  experiences,  of  the  apostles. 
"  Li  the  last  days,"  so  very  close  at  hand,  in  his  opinion, 
men,  St.  Paul  foretold,  would  be  found  among  the  brethren 
"  lovers  of  self,  lovers  of  money,  boastful,  haughty,  railers, 
disobedient  to  parents,  unthankful,  unholy,  without  natural 
affection,  implacable,  slanderers,  without  self-control,  fierce, 
no  lovers  of  good,  traitors,  headstrong,  puffed  up,  lovers 
of  pleasure  rather  than  loyers  of  God ;  holding  a  form  of 
godliness,  but  having  denied  the  power  thereof ; "  ^  "  men 
to  whom  nothing  was  pure,  both  their  mind  and  conscience 
being  defiled  ;  who  professed  to  know  God,  but  denied  Him 
by  their  works,  being  abominable,  disobedient,  and  to 
every  good  work  reprobate."  ^  St.  Peter  paints  the  dangers 
of  the  Churches  he  addresses  in  equally  strong  colours,^ 
while  both  by  him  and  St.  Jude  the  state  of  things  is 
compared  to  that  before  the  Flood  or  the  destruction  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  and  the  false  teachers  and  their 
followers  are  warned  that  their  "  destruction  slumbereth 
not."  He  who  "  did  not  spare  even  angels  when  they 
sinned,  but  cast  them  down  to  hell  and  committed  them 
to  pits  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment,"  they 
are  told,  was  assuredly  certain  to  carry  out  His  vengeance 
on  these  transgressors.  "They  walk  after  the  flesh  in 
the  lust  of  defilement,  and  despise  dominion.  Daring  and 
self-willed,  they  tremble  not  to  rail  at  dignities.  They 
turn  the  love  feasts  of  the  Church  into  noisy  drinking 
scenes,  their  eyes  are  full  of  adultery,  they  are  children 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  2  ff.  ^  ^it.  i.  15,  16.  '^  1  Pet.  ii.  11-17  ;  iv.  15. 


THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  OF  PETER  43 

of  cursing :  uttering  great  swelling  words  of  vanity ;  they 
entice  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  by  lasciviousness,  those 
just  escaping  from  lives  of  error ;  promising  them  liberty, 
while  they  themselves  are  the  slaves  of  corruption."  ^ 
Yet  they  had  "  known  the  way  of  righteousness,  but  were 
like  swine  which,  after  washing,  had  again  wallowed  in  the 
mire."  In  Jude  all  this  terrible  indictment  is  repeated, 
so  that  the  Churches  of  the  later  apostolic  years,  especially 
in  Asia  Minor,  must  have  been  poor  -  illustrations  of 
Christianity.  Yet  we  must  not  think  that  the  work  of 
St.  Paul  and  his  helpers  had  totally  perished.  Beneath 
the  scum  thrown  up  by  the  violent  agitations  of  the  times, 
the  pure  wine  lay  clear,  and  one  may  hope,  abundant 
below. 

To  congregations  thus  almost  unimaginably  unlike 
what  we  might  have  fancied,  the  Second  Epistle  of  St. 
Peter  was  addressed,  as  the  First  had  been.  It  runs 
as  follows : — 

The  Second  Epistle  General  of  Peter. 

I.  1.  Simon  Peter,  a  slave  and  apostle  of  Jesns  Christ,  to 
them  that  have  obtained  a  like-precious  faitli  with  us  in  the 
righteousness  of  our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ :  2.  Grace 
to  you  and  peace  be  multiplied,  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
of  Jesus  our  Lord  ;  3.  seeing  that  His  divine  power  has  granted 
us  all  things  that  minister  to  life  and  godliness,  through  the 
knowledge  of  Him  that  called  us  by  His  own  glory  and  virtue  ; 
4.  by  which  He  has  granted  us  His  precious  and  exceeding 
great  promises ;  that  through  these  ye  may  become  partakers 
of  the  divine  nature,  having  escaped  from  the  corruption  that 
is  in  the  world  by  lust.  5.  Yea,  and  for  this  very  cause, 
adding  on  your  part  all  diligence,  in  your  faith — as  its  fruit, 

1  2  Pet.  ii.  1  ff. 


44  ST.    PETER 

supply,  besides,  virtue — not  failing  in  manliness  and  true 
vigour  of  worthy  life,  the  root  of  all  other  graces ;  and,  in 
your  virtue,  knowledge,  to  use  those  graces  wisely;  6.  and 
in  your  knowledge,  self-control,  to  withstand  temptations; 
and  in  your  self-control,  enduring  patience  under  all  injuries 
and  hardships ;  and  in  your  patience,  godliness  ;  7.  and  in 
your  godliness,  love  of  the  brethren  ;  and  in  your  love  of  the 
brethren,  love  towards  all.  8.  For  if  these  things  are  yours, 
and  keep  growing,  they  make  you  to  be  not  slothful  or 
unfruitful  as  regards  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
9.  For  he  that  lacketh  these  things  is  blind,  his  closed  eyes 
seeing  only  dimly  and  near  at  hand  ;  he  having  forgotten 
the  cleansing  from  his  old  sins  of  his  former  life.  10.  Where- 
fore, brethren,  since  there  is  this  danger  of  forgetfulness, 
and  since  these  graces  are  so  vital,  give  the  more  diligence 
to  make  your  calling  and  election  sure  :  for  if  ye  follow  these 
counsels,  ye  shall  never  stumble;  11.  for,  thus  acting,  the 
entrance  into  the  eternal  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ  shall  be  richly  supplied  to  you. 

There  is  indeed  a  sure  ground  for  confidence  that  this 
glorious  reward  awaits  the  being  faithful  to  death. 

12.  Therefore,  "because  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
in  heaven,  is  assured  to  those  only  who,  by  the  strenuous 
cultivation  of  all  Christian  virtues,  advance  continually  to 
an  even  fuller  knowledge  of  Him,  I  shall  set  myself  always, 
as  opportunity  offers  to  put  you  in  remembrance  of  these 
things,  though  ye  know  them  already,  and  are  established  in 
the  truth  which  is  with  you.  13.  And  indeed  I  think  it  right, 
as  long  as  I  am  in  this  tabernacle,  to  stir  you  up  by  putting 
you  in  remembrance  of  them;  14.  knowing  that  the  putting 
off  of  my  tabernacle  will  come  on  me  soon,  even  as  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  has  revealed  to  me.  15.  But  I  will  take  diligent 
care  that  at  every  time  ye  may  be  able  after  my  decease  to 
call  these  truths  which  I  have  just  told  you,  to  remembrance. 
16.  For  we    did   not  follow  cunningly  devised  fables,  when 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF  PETER  45 

we  made  known  to  you  the  power  and  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus   Christ,    but    we    were    eye-witnesses   of    His    majesty. 

17.  For  He  received  from  God  the  Father  honour  and  glory, 
when  there  came  such  a  voice  to  Him  from  the  excellent 
glory,  This  is  My  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ; 

18.  and  this  voice  we  ourselves  heard  come  out  of  heaven, 
when  we  were  with  Him  in  the  holy  mount.  19.  And  thus 
we  have  the  word  of  Old  Testament  prophecy  made  more 
sure ;  to  which  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a 
lamp  shining  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the 
day  star  arise  in  your  hearts.  20.  Keeping  in  mind,  before 
all  things,  that  no  prophecy  of  Scripture  is  to  be  inter- 
preted by  mere  private,  human  insight,  unaided  from  above. 
21.  For  no  prophecy  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man :  but 
men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and, 
therefore,  He  alone  can  disclose  its  time  or  manner  of 
fulfilment. 

The  perversion  of  prophecy  to  misleading  ends,  as  im- 
plied in  this  sharp  rebuke  of  private  boldness  in  interpret- 
ing it,  was  then,  as  it  has  been  always,  a  passion  among 
religious  charlatans,  specially  fascinating  and  misleading 
to  the  weak-minded.  To  seek  to  know  the  future  was, 
indeed,  a  supreme  characteristic  of  antiquity,  to  profit  by 
which  diviners,  soothsayers,  professors  of  magic  rites,  and 
numberless  impostors  of  all  religions  abounded;  the 
audacity  of  Jewish  pretenders,  who  had  lent  themselves 
to  the  fashion  of  the  day,  for  gain,  ambition,  the  madness 
of  fanatical  excitement,  or  dark  political  ends,  being  pre- 
eminently foremost.  Jewish  Apocalyptic  books  were 
circulated  on  every  hand.  The  "  Second  book  of  Esdras," 
which  deals  with  the  immediate  future,  dates  from  about 
the  time  of  this  epistle.  The  "  Book  of  Jubilees  "  is  also 
a  production  of  about  this  date ;  a  book  which  treats  the 


46  ST.  PETER 

sacred  narrative  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  freedom 
of  later  Judaism,  and  is  so  intense  in  its  fanaticism  for  the 
Law,  that  it  tells  us  it  was  observed  by  the  angels  in 
heaven,  long  before  being  revealed  to  man ;  that  it  was 
first  written  on  heavenly  tablets,  and  was  only  long  after, 
piece  by  piece,  made  known  to  the  Jews.  Many  doctrines 
however,  it  affirms,  remained  unrevealed  except  to  the 
patriarchs,  who  received  them  from  God,  written  in  secret 
books,  which  had,  from  them,  come  down  to  the  rabbis. 
Sacrifices,  and  first-fruits,  the  yearly  Jewish  feasts,  new 
moons,  and  Sabbaths,  we  are  assured,  were  all  zealously 
observed  by  Abraham  and  his  successors.  Speculative 
doctrines  teaching  that  the  soul  lives  on,  without  any 
bodily  resurrection,  and  giving  extended  knowledge  re- 
specting the  angels,  link  this  composition  with  heresies 
of  which  we  hear  from  the  Epistles.  The  "  Testament 
of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs,"  another  of  the  books  of  this 
period,  is,  as  we  have  it,  a  succession  of  revelations 
and  prophecies,  mainly  of  strong  Jewish  colouring  but 
mingled  with  Christian  elements,  and  with  exhorta- 
tions designed  to  strengthen  and  comfort  the  faithful ; 
but  it  is  essentially  like  the  others,  and,  with  them,  is 
only  a  sample  of  a  literature  spread  widely,  in  those  days, 
through  the  churches.  In  such  a  time  of  pretended 
communications  from  heaven,  and  of  affected  knowledge 
of  everything  within  the  veil — the  details  of  the  life 
of  heaven,  its  occupations,  hierarchies,  and  relations  to 
mankind,  present  and  future  —  it  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  warn  the  excitable  population  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  thus  turn  them,  if  possible,  from  leaders  who 
would  draw  them  into  all  kinds  of  wild  speculations, 
and  even  into  degrading  alliances  of  religion  and  immo- 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF   PETER  47 

rality.     To  this  object,  therefore,  St.  Peter  now  addresses 
himself. 

II.  1.  But,  in  old  times,  there  arose  amidst  these  inspired 
men,  false  prophets  among  the  people,  Israel,  and  so,  among 
you,  also,  there  shall  be  false  teachers,  who  shall  stealthily 
bring  in  heresies  fatal  to  the  soul,  denying  even  the  Lord  ^ 
that  bought  them ;  thus  bringing  on  themselves  swift  de- 
struction. 2.  And  many  shall  follow  their  lascivious  doings ;  ^ 
by  reason  of  whom  the  Way  of  the  Truth  shall  be  evil  spoken 
of.  3.  And  for  covetousness,  they  shall  with  feigned  words 
make  trade  of  you,  for  your  money;  whose  judgment,  long 
pronounced,  does  not  delay,  and  their  destruction  does  not 
sleep.  4.  For  how  shall  they  escape  if  God  spared  not  angels 
when  they  sinned, ^  but  cast  them  down  to  hell,  and  committed 
them  to  pits  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judgment ;  5. 
and  spared  not  the  old  world,  but  preserved  Noah  with  seven 
others,  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  when  He  brought  a  flood 
upon  the  world  of  the  ungodly ;  6.  and  laying  the  cities  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrha  in  ashes,  condemned  them  to  destruc- 
tion, having  made  them  an  example  to  those  that,  after, 
should  live  ungodly ;  7.  and  delivered  righteous  Lot,  sore 
distressed  by  the  lascivious  life  of  the  wicked.  8.  For  that 
righteous  man,  dwelling  among  them,  distressed  his  righteous 
soul  from  day  to  day,  seeing  and  hearing  their  lawless  deeds. 
9.  Let  me  now  show  you  that  the  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver 
the  godly  out  of  temptation,  and  to  keep  the  unrighteous 
under  punishment  unto  the  day  of  judgment;  10.  but  chiefly 
them  that  walk  after  the  flesh,  in  their  lust  after  uncleanness, 
and  despise  dominion,  whether  of  heaven,  or  of  man.  Daring, 
self-willed,  they  tremble  not  to  rail  at  preachers  of  righteous- 
ness and  even  angelic  dignities,  as  the  generation  of  Noah,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  railed  at  his  righteous  warnings,  and 
as  the  people  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  railed  at  the  angels 
of  the  Lord,  sent  to  them:^  11.  whereas  even  angels,  as  for 

^   Lit.,  Master.  -  Jude  4.  -^  Jude  6  ff.  *  Gen.  xix,  1  ff. 


48  ST.    PE^ER 

instance  Michael, ^  though  so  much  greater  in  might  and 
power,  bring  not  a  railing  judgment  against  them,  that  is, 
against  dignities,  before  the  Lord,  as  when  Michael  would 
not  bring  one,  thus,  even  against  the  devil,  when  disputing 
with  him  about  the  body  of  Moses.  ^  12.  But  these  false 
teachers,  as  creatures  without  reason,  born  mere  animals, 
to  be  taken  and  destroyed,  railing  at  things  of  which  they 
know  nothing,  shall  in  their  corruption,  themselves,  assuredly 
perish,  13.  suffering  evil  as  the  penalty  of  evil  doing.  For 
they  are  men  who  think  it  delight  to  have  drunken  feasts 
in  the  day  time,  men  who,  instead  of  being  faithful  teachers, 
are  stains  and  blemishes  in  the  churches,  turning  their  share 
in  the  love-feasts  into  drunken  carousings,  while  they  affect 
to  feast  with  you  ;  ^  14.  having  eyes  full  of  adultery,  and 
insatiable  in  sin;  beguiling  unstable  souls;  having  hearts 
practised  in  covetousness,  men  who  are  children  of  the  curse.* 
15.  Forsaking  the  right  way  they  have  gone  astray,  and 
have  followed  the  way  of  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor,*  who 
loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness  ;  16.  but  was  rebuked 
for  his  iniquity  :  a  dumb  ass  speaking  with  a  human  voice, 
and  staying  the  madness  of  the  prophet.  17.  These  men  are 
springs  without  water,  and  clouds  driven  by  a  storm  wind,  and 
thus  giving  no  rain ;  for  whom  the  blackness  of  darkness 
has  been  reserved.*^  18.  For,  uttering  swelling  clouds  of 
empty  words,  they  allure  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  by  las- 
civiousness,  those  who  are  just  escaping  from  them  who 
live  in  error;  19.  promising  them  true  liberty,  while  they 
themselves  are  slaves  of  corruption  ;  for  a  man  is  the  slave 
of  him  by  whom  he  is  overcome,  20.  For  if,  after  they 
have  escaped  the  defilements  of  the  world  through  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  they  are 
again  entangled  in  them  and  overcome,  the  last  condition 
is  become  worse  with  them  than  the  first.  21.  For  it 
had  been   better   for   them   not  to   have  known   the  way   of 

1  Jude  9.  2  Jude  9.  '^  Jude  12. 

*  Eph.  ii.  3  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  3.  '^  Jude  11.  ^  Jude  12. 


THE    SECOND    EPISTLE   OF   PETER  49 

righteousness,  than,  after  knowing  it,  to  turn  back  from  tlie 
holy  commandment  delivered  to  them.  22.  It  has  happened 
to  them  according  to  the  true  proverb,  "  The  dog  turns  back 
to  his  own  vomit  again,"  and  "  The  sow  that  had  washed,  to 
wallow  again  in  the  mire." 

Eenewed  exposure  of  the  false  teachers. 

III.  1.  This  is,  now,  beloved,  the  second  epistle  I  write  you ; 
in  both  of  which  I  stir  up  your  sincere,  uncorrupted,  honest 
mind  to  watchfulness  by  putting  you  in  remembrance  of  what 
I  have  already  told  you;  2.  that  ye  may  recall  the  words 
spoken  in  the  past  by  the  holy  prophets,  and  also  the  command- 
ment of  the  Lord  and  Saviour,  through  your  apostles  ;  i  3.  not 
forgetting  as  your  first  remembrance,  having  been  told  that  in 
the  last  days, — those  in  which  we  live — scoffers  shall  come 
mocking,  walking  after  their  own  ungodly  lusts,  4.  and  saying. 
Where  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?  for,  from 
the  day  that  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  to  whom  the  promise  was 
given,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginnin«^ 
of  the  creation.  5.  For  this  they  wilfully  forget,  that  so  far 
from  all  things  continuing  unchanged  since  creation,  there 
were  heavens  from  of  old,  and  an  earth  formed  out  of  water 
and  amidst  water,  by  the  word  of  God ;  6.  by  which  means 
also, — God's  word — the  world  that  then  was,  beinir  over- 
whelmed  with  water,  perished  :  7.  but  the  heavens  and  earth 
that  are  now,  have  been  preserved  by  the  same  word  of  God, 
for  fire;  being  reserved  against  the  day  of  judgment  and 
destruction  of  ungodly  men. 

8.  But  do  not  forget  this  one  thing,  beloved,  that  one  day  is 
with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  so  that  the  delay  in  the 
fulfilment  of  the  promise,  since  the  times  of  the  fathers,  need 
not  disturb  you,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day  so  that  the 
complete  fulfilment  of  what  is  to  begin  at  Christ  s  Return,  may 
take   indefinite   generations   to  carry  wholly  out.     9.   The 

1  Jude  17. 
IV.  D 


50  ST.    PETER 

seeming  delay  is,  indeed,  through  God's  goodness,  for  the  Lord 
is  not  slack  concerning  His  promise,  as  some  think,  who  count 
the  delay  slackness ;  but  is  longsuffering  to  you-ward,  not 
wishing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to 
repentance.  1 0.  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief, 
with  sudden  unexpectedness ;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise  of  the  last  conflagration,  and 
the  elements  of  nature  shall  be  dissolved  with  fervent  heat ; 
and  the  earth  and  the  works  of  the  Almighty  that  are 
therein — in  the  heavens  and  in  the  elements  of  nature — shall 
be  burned  up.^  11.  All  these  things,  then,  the  whole  visible 
universe,  being  thus  to  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  persons 
ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  living  and  godliness,  12.  looking  for 
and  earnestly  desiring  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  when 
the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven,  with  the  angels 
of  His  power,  in  flaming  fire,^  by  reason  of  which  the  heavens, 
being  set  on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements^  of 
nature  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat?  13.  But  we,  according  to 
His  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness. 

14.  Wherefore,  beloved,  seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things, — 
the  coming  of  Christ  and  the  renewing  of  creation — give  dili- 
gence that  ye  may  be  found  in  peace,  without  spot  and  blame- 
less in  His  sight.  15.  And  account  that  the  longsuffering 
of  our  Lord  is  salvation  ;  even  as  our  beloved  brother  Paul 
also,  according  to  the  wisdom  given  to  him,  wrote  unto  you ;  * 
16.  as  also  in  all  his  epistles,^  speaking  in  them  of  these 
things,  in  which  are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which 
the  ignorant  and  un steadfast,  led  by  the  false  teachers,  wrest, 
as  they  do  also  the  other  Scriptures,  to  their  own  destruction. 

1  2  These,  i.  7.      ^  2  Thess.  i.  7.      ^  "  Elements  "  =  "  component  parts." 
'^  Most  pi  obably  a  reference  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  was 

a  circular  letter  to  the  churches  of  Lesser  Asia,  to  which  St.  Peter  was 

now  writing. 

^  Reference  has  been  fancied  by  "one  or  other,  to  Rom.  ix.  22  ;  ii.  4  ; 

1  Cor.  i.  7-9  ;  Heb.  ix.   26  flf. ;  x.  25,  37,  and  also  both  Epistles  to  the 

Thessalonians. 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF   PETER  51 

17.  Ye  therefore,  beloved,  knowing  these  things  beforehand, 
beware  lest,  being  carried  away  with  the  error  of  the 
wicked,  ye  fall  from  your  own  steadfastness.  18.  But  grow 
in  the  grace  and  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,     To  Him  be  the  glory  both  now  and  for  ever.     Amen. 


The  story  of  Christianity  had,  from  the  first,  been 
written  in  tears  and  blood.  Its  Founder  had  been  put  to 
a  violent  death  as  a  criminal,  in  the  early  flowei  of  His 
manhood,  after  so  painful  a  life  that  He  could  speak  of 
the  birds  of  the  air  having  nests,  and  the  foxes  holes, 
while  He  had  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  His  apostles 
and  followers,  from  the  beginning,  had  to  tread  the 
blackened  and  scorched  path  of  mockings,  and  scourgings, 
and  bonds,  and  imprisonments,  ending  often  in  martyrdom, 
and  this  bitter  experience  grew  even  more  common  as 
time  passed.  Nor  had  they  the  consolation  of  feeling 
that,  if  the  storm  raged  everywhere  around,  there  was 
still,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  itself,  the  internal  unity 
and  love  which  offered  a  heavenly  contrast.  Within  a 
very  short  time  after  Christ's  death,  as  we  have  seen, 
fierce  controversy  had  broken  out  between  the  more 
extreme  Jewish-born  brethren  and  the  converts  from 
heathenism,  convulsing  all  the  missionary  centres  of 
Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and  other  lands  with  fierce  party 
strife,  which  must  have  more  or  less  paralysed  the  new 
movement,  while  discrediting  it  among  the  general  popu- 
lation it  had  sought  to  win. 

But  all  these,  however  distressing  to  the  apostles  and 
their  colleagues,  were  almost  slight  troubles  when  com- 
pared with  those  of  the  later  years  of  this  first  generation. 
St.   Paul  could  comfort  himself,  in   these  earlier  trials, 


52  ST.    JUDE 

with  the  thought  that "  in  every  way,  whether  in  pretence 
or  in  truth,  Christ  is  preached,"  ^  but  as  he  drew  near 
his  end,  things  grew  ever  more  gloomy.  Heresies  of  ail 
kinds  sprang  up,  especially  in  the  churches  of  Asia 
Minor;  sapping,  at  once,  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  faith  and  the  elementary  principles  of  morality.  The 
Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus  describe  a  state  of  things 
which  must  have  wrung  his  very  soul.  The  gold  had 
become  dim ;  the  most  fine  gold  had  changed.  "  The 
man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition,"  had  appeared  in  the 
churches,  and  was  undoing  all  the  hard-won  results  of 
the  apostle's  life-long  self-sacrifice  for  Christ.  A  little 
later,  St.  Peter,  as  we  have  seen,  had  to  bewail  the  same 
degeneracy  in  too  many,  and  to  warn  those  still  faithful 
against  even  darker  times  at  hand.  The  sun,  and  the 
moon,  and  the  stars,  were  already  well-nigh  darkened, 
but  ever  deeper  clouds  would  return  after  the  rain.  The 
words  of  Christ  were  being  fulfilled,  for  "  many  false 
prophets  had  arisen,  and  had  led  many  astray,  and 
iniquity  was  so  multiplied  that  the  love  of  the  many  had 
waxed  cold,"  ^  and  "  all  these  things  were  but  the  begin 
ning  of  sorrows."^  It  is  no  wonder,  then,  to  find  the 
short  Epistle  of  St.  Jude, — written,  like  all  the  re- 
maining books  of  the  New  Testament,  except  the  Epistles 
of  John,  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem, — equally  gloomy 
in  its  tone.  The  Holy  City  perished  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  70,  and  it  was  now  at  least  a.d.  66 ;  the 
middle  of  a  decade  which  had  already  given  us  the 
letters  of  St.  I'aul  to  the  Ephesians,  Colossians,  Philippians, 
Philemon,  Timothy,  and  Titus,  with  both  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Peter,  which   were   written  by  the   apostle  after 

1  Phil,  i.  18.  ^  Matt.  xxiv.  11,  12.  ^  Matt.  xxiv.  8. 


THE   GENERAL   EPISTLE   OF   JUDE  53 

Paul's  death.  "  Hebrews/'  also,  dates  from  these  fruitful 
ten  years,  and  the  Epistle  of  Jude — a  companion  picture 
to  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter. 

Jude,  the  writer  of  this  short  contribution  to  the 
Canon,  calls  himself  simply,  "  a  servant "  (or,  rather, 
slave)  "  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  brother  of  James ; "  not 
claiming  to  be  an  apostle,  but  separating  himself  from 
the  Twelve  by  reminding  his  readers  of  "  the  words  which 
have  been  spoken  before,  by  the  apostles  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  ^  There  was  a  Judas  Lebbseus  among  the 
apostles,  but  we  do  not  know  of  his  having  any  brother. 
On  the  other  hand,  James,  the  brother  of  our  Lord,  who 
was,  as  we  know  the  head  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem, 
had,  even  earlier,  been  recognised  as  one  of  its  pillars,^ 
and  is  stated  in  the  Gospels^  to  have  had  a  brother, 
Jude,  or  Judas.  That  he  and  Jude,  if  brothers, — speak  of 
themselves  only  as  the  "  servants  of  Christ,"  not  as  His 
brothers,  may  be  regarded  as  a  reverend  shrinking  from 
putting  themselves,  even  so  far,  on  an  equality  with  Him. 
The  comparatively  unknown  Judas  could  not,  indeed, 
have  introduced  himself  more  effectively  to  the  churches, 
if  the  relation  to  Jesus  Himself  was  too  great  an  honour 
to  mention,  than  by  letting  them  know  that  he  was  the 
brother  of  the  greatly  revered  and  universally  known 
James,  whose  martyrdom,  very  recently,  at  Jerusalem, 
had  sent  a  shock  of  indignation  and  sorrow  through 
the  Christian  congregations  in  all  lands.  That  the  two 
were  really  brothers  is  curiously  made  more  probable 
by  the  fact  that,  from  whatever  cause,  there  are  striking 
similarities  in  the  epistles  of  the  two,  for  both  differ  from 
those  of  St.  Paul,  in  having  no  personal  greetings  or 
1  Jude  17.  ^  Gal.  ii.  9.  -  Matt.  xiii.  55 ;  Mark  vi.  3. 


54  ST.   JUDE 

references,  and  in  not  being  addressed  to  any  local  circle 
of  believers.  But  while  the  Epistle  of  James  is  written 
only  to  the  Jewish  Christians  outside  Palestine,  that  of 
Jude  is  virtually  inscribed  to  all  "  them  that  are  called, 
beloved  in  God  the  Father,  and  kept  for  Jesus  Christ,"  ^ 
and  therefore,  to  all  Christians,  whether  Jewish  or  heathen 
born,  in  Palestine  or  beyond  its  limits. 

His  great  aim  is  to  rouse  the  churches  everywhere,  to 
"  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to 
the  saints,"  ^  so  that  its  contents  are  in  no  way  modified 
to  suit  the  case  of  any  one  locality.  But,  that  such  an 
epistle  could  be  written  for  the  warning  of  the  whole 
Christendom  of  the  day,  implies  a  spread  of  moral  and 
doctrinal  degeneracy  that  is  painful  even  to  us,  and  must 
have  been  overpowering  to  the  faithful  of  the  first  age. 
Men  had  everywhere  crept  in  privily,  who  abused  the 
teaching  of  Paul  as  to  Christian  liberty,  using  it  as  a 
cloak  to  licentiousness,  or,  to  use  Jude's  words,  "  turning 
the  grace  of  our  God  into  lasciviousness,"^  while  by  their 
"  dreamings  "  *  in  wild  Eastern  philosophy  and  theology, 
they  not  only  "defiled  the  flesh,"  but  "denied"  the  sole 
"  dominion  "  of  "  our  only  Master  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ ; " 
their  audacious  speculations  and  systems  intruding  many 
orders  of  angels,  in  successive  grades,  between  Him  and 
man.  These  pestilent  teachings,  it  seems,  broke  out  in 
Jerusalem  after  the  death  of  St.  James,^  and  were  the 
corrupting  germ  which,  at  a  later  time,  developed  into 
the  many-branched  heresies  known  collectively  as  Gnos- 
ticism. Tendencies  towards  such  a  state  of  things  are, 
indeed,  met  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  and  in  the 

1  Jude  1.  2  j^^(je  3.  ^  j^je  4, 

4  Jude  8.  ^  Euseb.  "  Church  Hist."  iv.  22. 


THE   GENERAL  EPISTLE   OF  JUDE  )0 

false  teachers  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  and  in  the  Church 
at  Corinth,  showing  that  the  moral  decay  so  earnestly 
condemned  by  St.  Jude  had  for  years  been  spreading. 
At  Corinth,  in  fact,  the  abuses  that  grieved  St.  Paul, 
were  in  many  points  identical  with  those  that  troubled 
St.  Jude.  Perverting  the  words  of  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles — that  "all  things  were  lawful,"^  many  outraged 
all  Jewish-Christian  principles,  and  even  those  of  common 
morality,  by  falling  back  into  heathen  customs  and  ways 
of  thought ;  eating  the  flesh  of  heathen  sacrifices,  know- 
ing it  to  be  so,  and  taking  part  in  the  idol  banquets  on 
it,  in  the  heathen  temple-grounds ;  turning  the  Christian 
love-feasts  into  carousals  and  gormandisings  like  those 
of  heathen  "  idol-clubs,"  and  refining  away  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  into  no  more  than  a  new  spiritual  birth. 
The  Epistle  of  Jude,  like  the  Second  Epistle  of  St. 
Peter,  was  received  into  the  Canon,  only  after  having 
been  for  a  length  of  time  the  subject  of  discussion;  but 
there  is  no  reason  to  challenge  its  genuineness.  A  quota- 
tion in  it  from  a  section  of  the  apocryphal  book  of 
Enoch,  as  old  as  the  time  of  the  Maccabees,  was  urged 
against  its  being  ranked  as  canonical ;  an  evident  refer- 
ence to  another  apocryphal  book,  the  Assumption  of 
Moses,  written  about  ten  years  after  the  Crucifixion, 
adding  to  the  hesitation  to  receive  it.  But  Paul  himself 
introduces  an  unhistorical  tradition  of  the  Egyptian 
magicians,  Jannes  and  Jambres,  and  uses  allegories  similar 
to  those  in  vogue  with  the  rabbis,  such  as  that  of  Sinai 
and  Jerusalem  being  represented  by  Hagar  and  Sarah  ;  so 
that  analogous  peculiarities  in  Jude  in  no  measure  militate 
against  his  epistle. 

'  1  Cor.  vi.  12  J  X.  23. 


56  ST.    JUDE 

The  exact  date  of  composition  and  the  place  of  origin 
of  our  epistle  are  not  known,  but  it  must  have  been 
written  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  as  there  is  no 
allusion  to  that  supreme  event,  though  it  would  have  been 
an  irresistible  illustration  of  the  judgments  of  God,  in 
proof  of  which  the  long  past  fate  of  the  Cities  of  the 
Plain  is  brought  forward. 

Of  the  life  of  Jude  nothing  is  known,  beyond  his  having 
resembled  James  and  the  rest  of  the  family  of  Nazareth, 
in  standing  aloof  from  Jesus  until  after  the  Crucifixion, 
though  from  that  time  a  fervent  believer.  That  he  must 
have  enjoyed  high  honour  among  the  churches  is,  how- 
ever, evident  from  the  fact,  that  he  felt  warranted  to 
send  out  an  encyclical  like  his  epistle,  to  the  whole  of 
the  then  existing  Christendom.  To  have  done  so,  he 
must  have  been  well  known  everywhere,  and  recognised 
as  entitled  to  address  his  fellow-believers  with  authority, 
if  only  as  the  brother  of  our  Lord,  though  he  may  also 
have  held  the  presidency  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem, 
and  thus  been  head  of  the  Mother  Church,  to  which  all 
looked  with  reverence.  Eusebius  quotes  from  Hege- 
sippus,  a  historian  living  under  Hadrian,  Antoninus 
Pius,  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  whose  reigns  extended  from 
A.D.  117  to  A.D.  ISO,  a  tradition  that  grandchildren  of 
Jude  were  alive  in  the  reign  of  Domitian  — ad.  81  to 
A.D.  96 — and  that  being  reputed  descendants  of  David, 
they  were  brought  before  tl.e  emperor,  as  possible  claim- 
ants of  the  throne  of  Juda?a.  Having  at  once  admitted 
that  they  were  really  of  the  race  of  David,  they  were 
then  asked  how  much  money  or  property  they  owned, 
and  replied  that,  between  them,  they  had  the  value  of 
about    9000    denarii,    in    all,    say,   £300 — but    this    in 


THK   GENERAL   EPISTLE   OF  JUDE  57 

the  shape  of  thirty-nine  acres  of  land  from  which  they 
raised  their  taxes,  and  on  which  they  supported  them- 
selves by  their  own  labour.  To  prove  this  they  showed 
their  hands,  which  were  hard  and  rough  with  toil.  "  The 
kingdom  of  Christ  the  brother  of  their  grandfather,"  they 
said,  "  was  not  an  earthly  one,  but  a  heavenly,  and  would 
appear  at  the  end  of  the  world,  when  He  would  come  in 
glory,  and  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  giving  to  every 
one  according  to  his  works."  Domitian  hearing  such  a 
story,  would  not,  we  are  told,  condescend  to  notice  them 
further,  but  dismissed  them  as  harmless  simpletons.  On 
their  return,  however,  to  Palestine,  they  were  hailed  as 
confessors,  and,  as  such,  and  from  their  relation  to  Christ, 
were  set  over  little  churches  near  their  home,  living  on 
to  the  times  of  Trajan — a.d.  98  to  a.d.  117.^ 

The  venerable  relic  of  antiquity  thus  preserved  for  us 
in  the  Canon  runs  as  follows ;  every  line  of  it  clouded  by 
the  gloom  of  the  dark  sky  under  which  it  was  written. 

The  General  Epistle  of  Jude. 

1.  Jude,  a  bondservant,  slave,  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  brother 
of  James,  to  them  that  are  called  of  God,  beloved  in  God 
the  Father,  and  kept  for  Jesus  Christ :  2.  Mercy  unto  you, 
and  peace  and  love  be  multiplied. 

Occasion  of  writing. 

3.  Beloved,  having  it  much  at  heart  to  write  you  respecting 
our  common  salvation,  i  felt  especially  constrained  to  do  so, 
to  exhort  you  to  contend  earnestl}-  for  the  faith  which  was, 
once  for  all,  delivered  to  the  saints.  4.  For  certain  men 
have  stealthily  crept  into  the  churches,  who  were  written 
1  Euseb.  "Church  Hist."  in.  20. 


58  ST.   JUDE 

clown  of  old,  in  the  book  of  God,^  to  that  condemnation 
which  I  will  presently  make  known ;  ungodly  men,  per- 
verting the  grace  of  our  God  into  licentiousness,  and  deny- 
ing our  only  Master  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ. 

Three  examples  of  the  judgments  with  which  the  god- 
less men  of  whom  he  has  spoken  will  be  visited. 

5.  Now  I  would  recall  to  your  mind,  though  ye  know 
all  such  things  if  only  once  mentioned,  how  the  Lord, 
having  saved  a  people  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  after  this, 
as  He  who  by  no  means  clears  the  guilty,  destroyed  those 
of  them  that  believed  not.  6.  And,  how,  those  angels  who 
kept  not  to  their  own  assigned  principality,  but  forsaking 
it,  left  their  proper  place  of  abode  and  came  down  to 
this  world,  to  take  wives  of  the  daughters  of  men,^  He, 
God,  has  kept  in  everlasting  chains,^  covered  with  dark- 
ness,* unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  In  this, 
indeed.  He  acted,  7.  even,  to  give  a  third  case,  as  He 
did  to  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  the  cities  about  them, 
which  having,  in  like  manner  with  these,  given  themselves 
over  to  fornication,  and  gone,  as  Israel  in  the  wilderness 
and  as  the  angels  had  done,  after  strange  flesh,  are  set 
forth  as  an  example ;  suffering  the  punishment  of  eternal 
fire.  8.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  warning  examples,  these 
ungodly  men,  the  false  teachers,  in  their  dreamings,  defile 
the  flesh,  in  the  same  way  as  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
did,  belittle  the  divine  Majesty,  in  which  all  might  and 
dominion  have  their  source,  and  blaspheme  the  hierarchy 
of  angelic  dignities. 

These  words  appear  to  refer  to  the  flirst  signs  of  what 
afterwards  expanded  to  the  full-blown  "dreamings"  of 
Gnosticism.  Heathenism,  philosophy,  Oriental  speculation, 

1  Heb.  xii.  23. 

2  Gen.  vi.  2,  as  expanded  in  the  Jewish  apocryphal  Book  of  Enoch, 
cap.  xii.  4.  ^  Jewish  Haggada.  ^  Enoch  x.  5  ;  Ixii.  10. 


THE   GENERAL   EPISTLE   OF   JUDE  59 

and  Jewish  mysticism  as  developed  by  the  rabbis,  were, 
alike,  accustomed  to  think  of  an  infinite  series  of  higher 
or  subordinate  orders  of  beings,  variously  known  in  the 
different  systems,  as  angels,  deities,  "demons,"  seons,  or 
emanations  issuing  from  the  fountain  of  the  Essential 
Godhead.  In  this  long  descending  chain  of  powers,  the 
first  place  was  assigned,  in  rabbinical  philosophy,  to  the 
Logos  or  Memra — the  Word,  or  the  Hochma,  that  is,  the 
Wisdom,  of  Jehovah,  which,  being  personified,  was  regarded 
as  the  highest  of  these  celestial  emanations,  and,  in  this 
sense,  was  applied  by  these  innovators  to  "  our  only 
Master  and  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,"  of  whose  divine  rank, 
however,  it  was  a  virtual  denial,  making  him,  as  the 
Christ,  only  a  phantom.^  Nor  was  this  all,  for  these  false 
teachers  bore  themselves,  in  respect  to  the  hierarchy  of 
heaven,  as  the  Archangel  Michael  himself  would  not 
make  bold  to  do  even  against  the  devil — a  fallen,  not  a  sin- 
less angel. 

9.  But  even  Michael  the  archangel,  when,  contending  with 
the  devil,  he  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses,  durst  not 
bring  against  even  him  a  railing,  defamatory  condemnation, 
but  said,  "The  Lord  rebuke  thee."  10.  But  these  men  rail 
at,  and  speak  evil  of  things  of  which  they  know  nothing; 
things  which,  like  the  beasts  without  reason,  they  do  not 
understand  with  spiritually  illuminated  minds,  but  only  in 
a  natural  way,  with  the  faculties  we  have  in  common  with 
beasts,  and  hence,  in  these  wild  doings,  they  destroy  them- 
selves ;  sinking  into  a  still  worse  state. 

Origen  ^  says  that  Jude  quotes  this  about  Michael  from 
a  Jewish  writing  known  in  his  time,  "  The  Assumption 
of  Moses." 

^  Jiide  4.  ^  Peri  Arehon.  iii.  2. 


60  ST.    JUDE 

11.  Woe  to  them,  for  they  have  gone  in  the  way  of  Cain. 
the  symbol,  among  Jews,  of  rebellion  against  God,  and  have 
run  eagerly  into  the  wickedness  of  Balaam,  going  against  God, 
like  him  for  hire,  and  they  have  as  it  were,  already  perished 
like  the  offenders  in  the  rebellion  of  Korah.i  12.  These 
are  they  who  are,  in  your  love-feasts,  like  hidden  shipwreck- 
ing rocks  in  the  sea,  for  they  wreck  those  meals,  turning 
them  into  a  scandal ;  shamelessly  feasting  and  drink- 
ing together,  and,  without  fear  of  God  feeding  only  them- 
selves, and  leaving  the  poor  unfed  ;  they  are  clouds  without 
water, — mere  mockeries  of  what  they  pretend  to  be ;  autumn 
trees  without  fruit,  twice  dead,  by  having  no  fruit,  and  by 
being  doomed  to  be  plucked  up  by  the  roots;  13  wild  sea- 
waves,  casting  out  over  themselves  their  own  shame,  like 
foam  ;  wandering  comet-stars,  for  whom  the  blackness  of  dark- 
ness has  been  reserved  for  ever. 

Their  appearing  was  foretold  by  Enoch,  the  seventh 
from  Adam. 

14.  But  of  these,  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied, 
in  the  words — "  Behold,  the  Lord  came  with  ten  thousands  of 
His  holy  ones,"  the  angels,^  15  to  execute  judgment  upon  all, 
and  to  convict  all  the  ungodly  of  all  their  deeds  of  ungodliness 
which  they  have  ungodly  committed,  and  of  all  the  hard 
things  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him. 

In  the  Book  of  Enoch,^  the  words  occur  which  Jude 
quotes, — "  And  see  He  comes  with  ten  thousands  of  His 
holy  ones,  to  execute  judgment  upon  them,  and  He  will 
destroy  the  godless,  and  reckon  with  all  flesh,  for  all  that 
sinners  and  the  godless  have  plotted  or  done  against  Him." 
Enoch  is,  further,  called  in  this  book,  "  The  seventh  from 
Adam."  4      A   fuller   description    of   the   false   teachers, 

1  Num  xxxi.  16.  ;  xvi.  ^  Heb.  xii.  22  ;  Rev.  v.  11  ;  2  Thess.  i.  7. 

3  Enoch  i.  9.  *  Enoch  Ix.  8  ;  xciii.  3. 


THE   GENERAL  EPISTLE   OF   JUDE  61 

rising  naturally  from  the  last  words  of  the  prophecy 
just  quoted,  follows. 

16.  These  men  are  sullen  murmurers,  like  Korah,  discon- 
tented, even  while  walking  after  their  lusts,  and  their  mouth 
speaks  great  swelling  words  of  pride,  while  they  show  honour 
to  individuals,  for  the  sake  of  advantage  from  them. 

17.  But  ye,  beloved,  remember  ye  the  words  which  have  been 
spoken  beforehand  by  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 

18,  how  that  they  said  to  you,  ''In  the  last  time  there 
shall  be   mockers,   walking  after  their  own  uncfodly  lusts."  ^ 

19.  These  are  they  who  create  divisions;  not  spiritual  men, 
but  natural,  not  having  the  Holy  Spirit.  20.  But  ye,  beloved, 
building  yourselves  up  on  your  most  holy  faith,  praying  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,  21.  keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of  God,  look- 
ing for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life. 
22.  And  on  some  have  compassion,  who  are  in  doubt ;  23.  and 
some,  save,  snatching  them  out  of  the  fire ;  having  mercy  on 
still  others,  with  fear,  on  their  account  and  on  your  own : 
hating  even  the  under-garment  tainted  by  the  flesh.  Thus, 
while  preserving  your  own  faith,  pity  and  win  back  those  in 
doubt,  through  the  false  teachers, — eagerly  pluck  back  those 
already,  as  it  were,  in  the  fire,  and  pity  others,  yet  with 
anxious  fear  lest  you  yourselves  be  tempted  and  polluted  ; 
hating  even  the  approach  to  sin,  as  you  would  an  inn  r 
garment  that  touched  a  leprous  body. 

24.  Now  unto  Him,  who  is  able  to  keep  you  from  stumbling, 
and  to  set  you  before  the  presence  of  His  glory,  without 
blemish,  in  exceeding  joy  ;  25  to  the  only  God  our  Saviour, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  be  glory,  majesty,  dominion 
and  power,  as  it  was  before  all  time,  is  now,  and  shall  be 
evermore.  Amen. 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  If.;  iv.  3  ;  1  Tim.  iv.   1  ;   Acts  xx.  29.     The  words  given 
are  not  an  express  quotation  of  any  text,  but  present  the  spiiit  of  many. 


CHAPTER  III 

IN   JUBMA.      THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS 

No  one  would  suppose  that  anything  but  public  quiet, 
and  the  orderly  movement  of  affairs,  marked  the  daily 
life  of  Jud»a,  while  the  short  encyclical  of  St.  Jude,  sent 
out,  we  may  believe,  from  Jerusalem,  was  being  carried  by 
poor  Jews  or  other  wanderers,  painfully  toiling  to  all  lands 
after  employment  or  petty  commerce,  or  returning  from 
religious  pilgrimage,  to  their  sordid  homes,  giving  copies 
of  it  to  the  small  societies  of  Christians  in  the  Jewish 
quarters,  the  slave  huts,  the  slums,  or  back  streets  or  lanes, 
in  every  city,  town,  or  village  on  their  way.  It  would 
appear,  from  the  Epistle,  that  the  danger  of  believers 
being  seduced  by  false  teachers  was  the  only  matter  then 
agitating  mankind,  for  there  is  no  hint  of  any  world  out- 
side the  walls  in  which  the  Christians  anywhere  as- 
sembled ;  just  as  the  monkish  chronicles  of  our  Middle 
Ages,  in  the  wildest  times  write  placidly,  of  their  cloister 
history  only,  as  if  there  were  nothing  else  to  record. 

Yet  in  those  days  things  were  coming  fast  to  a  crisis  in 
Palestine,  while  in  Rome,  Nero  was  filling  up  the  measure 
of  his  insane  wickedness,  and  was  soon  to  close  the  great 
line  of  the  Caesars  by  an  ignominious  death,  amidst  the 
execration  of  the  best  of  mankind.  It  shows  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  however,  that  he  had  been  allowed  to  reign 
four  years  after  the  burning  of   the  city  in  a.d.  64,  in 

62 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS  63 

spite  of  all  the  public  vice  and  ferocious  despotism  that 
followed,  and  that  no  small  number  of  his  subjects  not 
only  lamented  him  when  he  fell,  but  hoped  for  his  return  ; 
not  believing  him  really  dead.  Conspiracy  had  often 
plotted  his  destruction  during  those  years,  but  only  to 
the  ruin  of  those  concerned  in  it.  In  A.D.  66,  indeed, 
there  was  even  a  last  flicker  of  glory  for  dying  Ca^sarism ; 
Corbulo,  the  Consul  commanding  in  the  East,  having 
driven  the  Parthians  out  of  Armenia,  and  having  sent 
their  king  to  Eome,  to  do  homage  to  Nero.  The  crimes 
of  the  emperor — his  matricide,  his  murder  of  his  wife, 
the  burning  of  Eome,  the  putting  to  death,  like  cattle,  of 
men  of  the  highest  rank  and  character— were  all  for- 
gotten, in  the  momentary  revival  of  popularity  from  this 
far-off  victory.  Yet  within  three  years  after  the  theatrical 
spectacle  of  the  public  submission  of  the  Parthian  king,  at 
Puteoli,  had  put  all  Ptome  in  ecstasies,  and  JSTero,  greeted 
as  Imperator,  had  come  down  from  the  Capitol  wear- 
ing the  laurel  crown  of  a  conqueror,  and  shut  the  temple 
of  Janus,  as  a  sign  of  now  universal  peace,  open  war  had 
begun  between  the  Jews  and  the  Eomans  in  Palestine. 
But  so  far  from  damping  the  public  joy,  this  news  of 
approaching  trouble  increased  it,  for  no  war  was  ever 
more  popular  in  Eome  than  one  against  the  abhorred 
Jews.^  In  the  last  month  of  66,  Nero,  still  thinking 
himself  the  idol  of  the  people,  set  off  to  Greece,  to  carry 
out  a  long-cherished  wish,  to  display  there  his  vocal  and 
musical  genius  at  the  Greek  games.  Vespasian  was  sent 
to  Palestine,  and  Corbulo,  guilty  of  having  been  too 
successful,  was  forced  to  kill  himself,  while  Xero  was  on 
this  progress ;  nor  did  he  return  to  Italy  till  the  beginning 

^  Suet.  Nero.  13  ;  Tac.  Hi&t.  v.  i.  10. 


64  ST.   PETER 

of  68,  when  he  could  no  longer  ignore  the  warnings  of 
his  council,  that  danger  was  threatening  in  Gaul.  Yet, 
so  little  did  he  realise  his  position,  that  he  rode  from 
"Naples  to  Eome  as  victor  in  the  Olympic  games,  in  the 
gilded  chariot  in  which  Augustus  had  ridden  in  his 
triumph  over  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  drawn,  as  then,  by 
white  horses;  the  journey  ending  by  his  hanging  up  over 
1800  victors'  crowns  he  had  received,  on  the  obelisk  in 
the  Circus  Maximus. 

An  insurrection  of  the  excitable  Gauls  had  widened 
into  a  movement  in  which  Galba,  who  commanded  in  the 
greater  part  of  Spain,  was  compromised,  and  forced  to 
declare  himself  against  Nero,  as  the  one  chance  of  saving 
his  life.  Otho,  at  this  time  governor  of  Lusitania,  which 
comprised  much  of  the  rest  of  the  peninsula,  had  been 
formerly  the  husband  of  Poppsea,  whom  Nero  had  forcibly 
taken  from  him  and  married ;  only,  however,  in  the  end,  to 
kill  her  by  a  kick  when  she  could  ill  bear  it.  Galba's  defec- 
tion, and  his  being  joined  by  Otho,  at  once  plunged  the 
emperor  in  despair.  His  ruin,  he  saw,  was  at  hand.  Tigel- 
linus,  the  Chief  of  the  Praetorian  troops,  infamous  for  his 
pandering  to  his  master's  enormities,  presently  fled.  Nero 
did  not  know  what  to  do,  and  was  too  irresolute  for  any 
vigorous  action.  Meanly  cowed,  he  even  thought  that  per- 
haps, if  he  went  to  Gaul,  and  wept  before  the  revolted 
soldiery,  it  would  win  them  back  again.  He  would  enter- 
tain them  afterwards,  and  would  play,  and  sing  his  Olympic 
triumphs  to  them !  Soon  after,  he  proposed  to  flee  to  Egypt. 
Meanwhile,  insulting  words  appeared  on  walls  and  pillars. 
The  people  were  turning  to  the  rising  sun.  Giving  out 
that  he  had  gone  to  Egypt,  the  troops  took  the  opportunity 
to  declare  for  Galba,  who  had  now  been  recognised  by  the 


THE   EPISTLE   TO    THE   HEBREWS  65 

Senate.  Next  morning  Nero  found  himself  deserted  in 
his  villa.  The  Praetorian  cohort  had  been  withdrawn  in 
the  night,  and  the  greater  number  of  his  slaves  and  freed- 
men  had  run  away.  One,  who  remained,  urged  his  fleeing 
with  him,  to  a  little  property  he  had  in  the  country, 
about  four  miles  from  Eome.  A  scribe,  and  two  lads,  the 
instruments  of  the  fallen  man's  vice,  were  the  whole 
following  left  him,  and  with  these  he  hurried,  in  a  single 
waggon,  to  the  place  of  refuge.  So  low  had  he  sunk  who 
yesterday  had  been  the  ruler  of  the  world !  In  his  terror 
he  covered  his  face  as  he  was  driven  on,  and  finally  left 
the  waggon,  to  make  his  way,  through  reeds  and  swamp, 
to  Phaon's  house.  Meanwhile,  the  Senate  had  sat  in 
judgment  on  him,  and  had  condemned  him  to  be  scourged 
to  death.  The  doomed  man  knew  that  he  must  die,  but 
waited  till  he  heard  the  horses  of  those  who  were  to 
arrest  him,  near  at  hand,  before  he  could  plunge  his 
dagger  into  his  throat,  and  even  then,  his  attendant 
had,  in  pity,  to  seize  his  trembling  hand,  and  drive  the 
weapon  home.  The  Koman  aristocracy  had,  at  last,  their 
revenge,  but  the  lower  classes,  whom  the  crimes  of  the 
dead  man  had  not  affected,  at  least  directly,  were  troubled, 
mainly,  by  wondering  whether  his  successor  would  feed 
them,  and  amuse  them  as  lavishly.  In  the  provinces,  the 
emperor's  madness  had  wrought  comparatively  little  evil. 
In  Judaea,  things  had  been  going  from  bad  to  worse 
during  the  last  years  of  the  monster's  reign.  The  peace 
secured  by  Corbulo  with  Parthia,  had  left  no  motive  to 
Eome  for  treating  with  any  tenderness  the  troublesome 
Jewish  province.  It  seemed,  indeed,  to  Josephus,  the 
design  of  the  last  procurators  to  excite  an  open  insurrec- 
tion, that  resistance  might,  once  for  all,  be  drowned  in 
IV.  E 


66  ST.    PETER 

blood,  and  Tacitus  calmly  tells  us  that  patience  lasted 
till  Gessius  Floras  became  procurator.^  Eome  was  tired 
of  lawless  agitation,  and  wished  open  war  rather  than 
the  guerrilla-fighting,  which  wearied  out  whole  legions,  and 
kept  the  entire  East  disturbed.  From  the  time  of  Albinus, 
in  A.i).  62,  the  fundamental  idea  of  Eoman  policy  in 
Judaea  appeared  to  be  systematic  ill-treatment  of  the  richer 
classes,  who  were  the  friends  of  peace,  and  impunity  to 
the  bandits  who  held  the  country  in  terror.  A  brief 
attempt  to  curb  the  robber  domination  by  wholesale 
executions  having  failed,  a  tacit  understanding  seemed 
to  have  been  come  to,  with  the  bands  who  lurked  in  the 
hills.  Even  the  marauders  caught  and  sent  to  head- 
quarters by  the  local  officers,  were  set  free  for  so  much 
ransom,  and  an  open  exchange  of  prisoners  on  both  sides 
was  carried  on.  A  change  of  procurators  brought  no  im- 
provement, and  indeed,  Gessius  Florus,  who  entered  on 
office  in  66,  made  things  even  worse ;  he  being  only,  to  use 
the  expression  of  Josephus,  a  hangman  instead  of  a  robber.^ 
What  Albinus  had  done  secretly,  he  did  openly,  nor  had 
he  any  fear  of  Eome,  since  his  wife  was  a  friend  of  the 
empress,  Poppsea.^  Tired  of  the  sputtering,  petty  warfare 
round  him,  he  fanned  the  insurrection,  that  he  might 
induce  all  the  raiders  to  unite,  and  then  crush  them  with 
one  blow.  "Where  pity  was  deserved,"  says  Josephus, 
"he  was  most  barbarous,  and  in  disgraceful  things  most 
shameless.  In  disguising  the  truth  and  inventing  subtle 
modes  of  deceit,  he  was  without  a  rival.  Thinking  it  too 
small  a  matter  to  plunder  individuals,  he  spoiled  whole 
towns,  and  ruined  entire  communities  at  a  stroke,  even 
letting  it  be  all  but  publicly  proclaimed,  that  any  one 

^  Tac.  Hist.  V.  10.  ^  Bdl.  Jud.  ii.  2.  ^  Ant.  xx.  11,  1. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS  67 

might  turn  robber  if  he  shared  his  spoil  with  the  governor. 
Whole  villages  were  left  desolate ;  the  inhabitants  fleeing 
to  quieter  parts."  It  was  hopeless  to  send  complaints 
against  him  to  the  proconsul,  Cestius  Gallus,  at  Antioch, 
for  the  two  hung  together,  but  Cestius,  having  come  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  Passover  of  a.d.  66,  it  seemed  possible 
he  might  then  listen  to  the  grievances  of  the  nation. 
Multitudes  pressed  round  him,  clamouring  against  Florus, 
but  the  accused  procurator  only  mocked  at  their  out- 
cries, and  Cestius  himself  presently  added  a  new  trouble 
worse  than  all  they  had  borne.  The  rebuilding  of  Eome 
by  Nero  required  immense  sums  of  money,  and  to  raise 
these,  a  new  census  was  to  be  taken  throughout  the 
provinces.  That  made  under  Quirinus  many  years  before, 
had  been  the  beginning  of  the  strife  between  the  Jews 
and  Rome;  for  Orientals  abhcr  any  "numbering"  of  a 
population,  since  it  involves  the  disclosure  of  their  worldly 
belongings,  and  inevitably  brings  after  it  increased 
taxation.  To  the  Jew,  especially,  the  story  of  David's 
bringing  down  the  wrath  of  Jehovah  on  the  nation  by 
attempting  to  number  them,  had  made  the  very  thought 
of  doing  so,  in  the  last  degree  alarming.  Yet,  now,  the 
priests  were  ordered  to  send  in  a  return  of  those  present 
at  the  Passover;  reckoning,  however,  only  ten  persons 
for  each  lamb  slain,  though  even  twenty  were  often 
sharers  of  a  single  victim.  But  the  inflammable  state 
of  things  made  it  impossible  to  do  more  than  get  an 
estimate  from  the  high-priests,  that  3,000,000  were  pre- 
sent at  the  feast :  no  public  numeration  being  practic- 
able.^ The  great  man's  visit  over,  Florus  was  left  to 
his  own  evil   ways,   Josephus,  indeed,  asserting  that  he 

'    "Jewish  War,"ii.  14,  3. 


GS  ST.    PETER 

deliberately  forced  the  Jews  into  rebellion ;  war  being 
the  only  means  by  which  he  could  conceal  his  misdoings. 
The  unspeakable  crimes  of  Yerres,  so  mercilessly  exposed 
by  Cicero,  were  virtually  re-enacted.  But  it  was  not  easy 
to  drive  the  people  to  the  final  rupture,  for  their  suffer- 
ings by  plunderers  and  officials  in  the  past,  the  depopu- 
lation of  districts,  the  emigration  of  large  numbers,  and 
the  wide-spread  misery  of  the  general  population,  had 
created  a  dread  of  open  war,  which  would  be  so  im- 
measurably worse  in  its  inflictions.  Through  the  country 
generally,  in  fact,  there  was  no  disposition  to  try  issues 
with  mighty  Kome.  The  fanaticism  that  gloried  in  being 
irreconcilable  was  limited,  for  the  most  part,  to  Judaea. 

Yet  the  public  excitement  was  intense,  and  even  those 
who  most  dreaded  war  felt  that  it  must  come.  Supersti- 
tion helped  to  confirm  this  belief,  for  the  wild  fancies 
of  such  times  found  abundant  portents  of  the  impending 
wrath.  In  the  time  of  Albinus,  for  instance,  a  great 
light  was  declared  to  have  shone  for  half  an  hour,  on  the 
Passover  night,  making  the  altar  and  the  Temple  stand 
out  as  if  in  bright  day.  At  the  same  feast,  a  heifer 
about  to  be  sacrificed,  was  said  to  have  brought  forth  a  lamb. 
The  great  eastern  gate  of  the  Temple,  of  heavy  brass, 
needing  twenty  men  to  shut  it  each  evening,  though 
closed  and  bolted  into  deep  holes  in  the  stone  floor,  was 
seen  to  open,  one  night,  of  its  own  accord,  and  could  not 
be  shut  again  without  great  difficulty.  Then,  again,  on 
another  evening,  before  sunset,  chariots  were  seen  in  the 
air,  and  troops  of  soldiers  in  armour,  running  about 
among  the  clouds  and  besieging  cities.  Moreover,  at  the 
feast  of  Pentecost,  as  the  priests  were  going  into  the 
inner  Temple   at  night   for  their   evening   duties,  they 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBKEWS  G9 

reported  that  all  at  once,  they  felt  the  ground  quake 
and  heard  a  great  noise,  presently  followed  by  a  sound  as 
of  a  multitude  crying,  "  Let  us  go  out  of  this !" 

But  that  which  most  impressed  the  public  mind  was 
the  appearance  of  a  peasant  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem, 
in  the  year  62,  when  all  was  peace  and  prosperity,  crying. 
during  the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  "A  voice  from  the 
east,  a  voice  from  the  west,  a  voice  from  the  four  winds, 
a  voice  against  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple,  a  voice  against 
bridegrooms  and  brides,  and  a  voice  against  the  whole 
people  ! "  This  doleful  wail  was  heard  in  all  the  streets 
of  the  city,  night  and  day,  and  raised  so  great  an  excite- 
ment that  the  Jewish  authorities  seized  the  offender  and 
scourged  him  severely.  Yet,  when  released,  he  at  once 
recommenced  his  lamentable  cry.  Brought  before  the 
procurator  for  this  new  disturbance,  he  was  scourged  till 
his  bones  were  laid  bare,  but  he  made  no  entreaty  for 
mercy  while  undergoing  this  frightful  punishment,  nor 
did  he  shed  any  tears,  but  still,  after  every  stroke,  cried 
out  "Woe  to  Jerusalem!"  Led  before  Albinus  again, 
he  simply  answered  nothing  to  his  questions — "  Who  he 
was?"  and  "Whence  he  came?"  and  was  at  last  dis- 
missed as  a  madman.  Still,  however,  his  doleful  voice 
proclaimed  continually,  through  all  the  city, — "Woe  to 
Jerusalem ! "  as  he  stalked  through  the  narrow  streets, 
speaking  to  no  one,  but  keeping  aloof  from  all.  Beaten 
by  the  evil-minded  day  after  day,  he  never  gave  them  a 
bitter  word,  nor  did  he  thank  those  who  gave  him  food ; 
his  only  answer  to  any  one  being  his  fearful  cry,  which 
rose  loudest  at  the  great  feasts,  and  continued  for  seven 
years  and  five  months ;  stopping  only  when  the  siege 
began,  and    his   prophecy    was    fulfilled.    ."For,"    says 


70  ST.    PETER 

Josephus,  "  as  he  was  going  round  upon  the  wall,  crying 
out,  '  Woe  to  the  city,  and  to  the  people,  and  to  the 
Temple/  just  as  he  added,  '  Woe  to  me  also ! '  a  stone 
from  one  of  the  Eoman  catapults  struck  him  dead  in 
a  moment,  so  that  while  he  was  still  uttering  the  same 
foreboding  laments,  he  expired."^ 

While  things  were  thus  ominous  and  distracted  in 
Judaea — men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for 
expectation  of  what  was  coming; — amid  signs  in  the 
sun,  and  moon,  and  stars,  and  on  the  earth,  and  when 
a  sea  of  troubles  rolled  its  tempestuous  billows  ever 
higher, — a  writing  now  sacred  was  being  circulated 
among  the  Christians  of  Palestine.  Scattered  in  small 
communities  through  the  country  at  large,  these  were 
to  be  found  chiefly  in  the  poorest  quarters  of  Jerusalem, 
for  they  were,  as  a  rule,  of  so  humble  a  class  as  to  need 
the  charity  of  their  fellow-believers  far  and  near,  to 
keep  them  from  actual  want :  their  social  position  being, 
in  fact,  such,  that,  in  ordinary  times,  even  their  enemies 
overlooked  their  existence. 

This  "  Epistle,"  which  was  written  by  we  do  not  now 
know  whom,  and  came  from  we  do  not  know  whence,  was 
addressed  simply  to  the  "  Hebrews "  of  the  new  faith, 
being  no  other  than  the  one  included  under  that  name 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  absolute  isolation  from 
worldly  affairs  of  the  leaders  of  the  churches  could  not 
be  more  vividly  shown,  than  in  the  other-worldly  char- 
acter of  this  weighty  document,  for  no  one  could  gather 
from  it  the  revolutionary  state  of  affairs  around  those 
addressed,  or  that  the  air  was  electric,  with  no  one  knew 
what  storms   and  forked  lightnings,  even   now  flashing 

^  J(js.  Bell.  Jud.  vi.  5,  3. 


THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   HEBREWS  71 

from  cloud  to  cloud  in  the  gathering  blackness.  The 
feuds  of  Zealot  and  Eoman  had  clearly  no  support  in  the 
lowly  assemblies  of  the  Nazarenes.  They  were  evidently, 
in  their  own  view,  only  strangers  and  pilgrims  among 
their  fellows,  having  no  abiding  city  here,  but  "  seeking 
after  one  that  was  to  come."^ 

The  name,  "  Hebrews,"  was  that  used  in  the  apostolic 
age,  by  people  of  other  countries,  when  speaking  of  the 
Jews  of  Palestine,  and,  by  the  Christians,  of  those  of 
their  number  who  were  of  pure  Jewish  blood,  marked,  as 
a  rule,  by  their  clinging  to  old  Jewish  usages  and  pre- 
judices more  than  their  brethren  of  foreign  birth.  As 
the  Romans  called  the  Hellenes^  Greeks,  as  the  Magyars 
are,  even  now,  called  "Hungarians"  or  foreigners,  as 
the  Germans  are  AUemands  to  the  French,  and  as  the 
old  British  of  England,  were  known  by  their  invaders  as 
Welsh,  or  strangers,  the  Jews  of  Palestine  were  known 
by  other  races  as  Hebrews.  Whether  the  inscription  of 
the  Epistle  was,  originally,  exactly  what  it  is  now,  cannot 
be  decided,  but  it  is  at  least  known  to  be  as  old  as  about 
a  hundred  years  after  Christ's  death.  There  can  therefore 
be  little  doubt  that  the  document  was  first  intended  for 
the  Jewish-Christians  living  in  their  own  land,  speaking 
Jewish-Aramaic,  though  able  to  understand  Greek,  and 
probably  Latin :  for  in  polyglot  cities  such  as  Jerusalem 
then  was,  every  child  picks  up  a  number  of  languages, 
as  we  see  to-day,  in  Gibraltar  or  Valetta.  Yet  it  would 
not  be  limited,  in  its  designed  circulation,  to  the  Jewish- 
Christians  of  Palestine,  for  nearly  all  congregations  of 
apostolic  times  consisted  of  Jewish  as  well  as  heathen- 
born  converts.     Some,  however,  have  supposed  it  to  have 

'   Heb.  xiii.  14. 


72  ST.    PETER 

been  written  for  the  Christians  of  Alexandria,  while 
others  have  held  that  it  was  intended  for  the  churches 
in  Eome,  where  it  was  so  highly  honoured  that  we  find 
no  fewer  than  thirty- seven  references  to  it  in  the  First 
Epistle  of  Clement — a  Roman — to  the  Corinthians,  written 
towards  the  end  of  the  first  century,  that  is,  while,  it  may 
be,  St.  John  was  still  living,  though  the  belief  that  it 
was  not  written  by  the  Apostle  Paul  was  even  then  of 
loncp  standinoj. 

From  the  Epistle  itself  we  learn  that  it  was  designed, 
in  the  first  place,  for  a  local  Jewish-Christian  congrega- 
tion presided  over  by  "rulers,"  as  were  the  synagogues.^ 
This  community,  moreover,  must  have  been  comparatively 
long  established,  for  their  first  teachers  had,  apparently, 
died,  and  been  replaced  by  successors :  ^  some,  it  would 
seem,  having  perished  as  martyrs.^  It  had  moreover,  at 
some  earlier  time,  endured  bitter  persecution,  in  which  its 
members  had  been  made  a  gazing-stock,  by  reproaches 
and  afflictions,  having,  in  some  cases,  been  thrown  into 
prison,  and  in  others,  stripped  of  their  goods;  their 
trials  in  one  way  or  other  amounting  to  a  "  great  conflict 
of  sufferings."^  In  all  these  trials  they  had  nobly  helped 
their  suffering  brethren;  sharing  their  troubles  with  them,^ 
and  still  continued  the  same  loving  ministries  to  the 
"  saints,"  at  the  time  of  the  Epistle's  being  written.^  Nor 
had  their  rulers  failed  in  true  service  to  their  people,  for 
they  "  watched  for  their  souls,  as  they  that  must  give 
account."^ 

Things,  however,  were  not  altogether  healthy  in  the 

1  Heb.  xiii.  7,  17,  24  ;  x.  25  ;  xiii.  23.  ^  jjeb.  v.  12. 

3  Heb.  xiii.  7.  ^  Heb.  X.  32-34.  ^  jjeb.  x.  34. 

6  Heb.  vi.  10.  ''  Heb.  xiii.  17. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS  73 

congregation,  who  appear  to  have  been  a  second  genera- 
tion of  converts ;  the  Gospel  "  at  the  first  spoken  "  to  them 
"  through  the  Lord,"  doubtless  by  the  apostles,  having 
been  "  confirmed  to  the  present  church  members  by  those 
who  heard  "  these,  its  original  preachers.  There  was  now 
a  highly  dangerous  decline  of  Christian  faith.  The  delay 
in  the  expected  appearing  of  Christ  in  His  glory,  had  not 
only  dimmed  the  hope,  but  had  shaken  the  faith  of  many, 
in  Jesus,  as  the  promised  Messiah.  The  offence  of  the 
Cross  began  once  more  to  trouble  them,  and,  indeed,  things 
had  gone  so  far,  that  some  not  only  absented  themselves 
from  the  meetings  of  the  church,  but  needed  the  most 
earnest  warnings  against  falling  away  altogether  to 
Judaism,  now  so  hostile  to  Christian ity.^ 

The  church  was  not,  therefore,  in  a  position  to  resist 
as  it  otherwise  might,  and  as  it  had  formerly  done,  the 
continual  persecutions  and  contemptuous  treatment  en- 
dured at  the  hands  of  their  Jewish  neighbours.^ 

A  striking  characteristic  of  the  Epistle,  and  one  throw- 
ing an  interesting  light  on  the  constitution  of  the  church 
addressed,  is  that  it  makes  no  allusion  to  a  point  then  so 
vital  as  the  relation  of  Jewish  to  heathen-born  members. 
Had  there  been  a  mixture  of  the  two,  or  had  there  been 
a  heathen -born  church  in  the  same  place,  a  writer 
so  catholic  in  his  feelings  must  have  warned  both, 
against  the  jealousies  and  disputes  so  common  between 
them,  and  hence  we  may  conclude  that  the  membership 
was  virtually  altogether  Jewish.  It  is  clear,  also,  thar, 
though  Jewish,  the  church  must  have  been  more  than 
friendly  to  the  memory  and  party  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 

1  Heb.  X.  25  ;  vi.  4  fif. ;  x.  26  ff. ;  xii.  15  flf.,  25  flf. 

2  Heb.  xiii.  13  ;  xii.  4  ff. 


74  ST.    PETER 

since  the  author  implies  their  interest  in  the  delivery  of 
Timothy  from  prison,  and  tells  them,  for  their  gratifica- 
tion, that,  when  freed,  the  "heloved  son"  of  St.  Paul 
would  come,  with  himself,  to  visit  them.^  He  shows  him- 
self, moreover,  thoroughly  penetrated  with  the  spirit  of 
the  great  Apostle,  though  certainly  not  one  of  his  im- 
mediate scholars  or  helpers,  but  rather  of  the  school  of 
Apollos,  and  yet  takes  for  granted  that  his  exhortations 
will  find  a  kindly  reception  among  them ;  even  speaking 
of  himself  as  well  known  to  them,  if  not  indeed  one  of 
themselves. 2  Nor  does  it  follow  that  the  salutations  sent 
them  by  the  writer,  from  the  Christians  of  Italy ,^  imply 
more  than  a  friendly  spirit  towards  them,  in  those  round 
the  author,  when  he  wrote. 

In  these  features  of  the  Epistle,  however,  lie  difficul- 
ties in  connection  with  each  of  the  three  opinions  as  to 
the  brethren  addressed ;  whether  they  lived  in  Palestine, 
Alexandria,  or  Eome.  But  the  decision  must  rest  on  the 
answer  to  the  question,  where  lay  the  chief  danger  of  a 
return  to  the  hostile  communion  of  Judaism,  against 
which  the  Epistle  is  directed  throughout.  It  could  only 
have  risen  from  religious  convictions  which  had  grown  up 
in  the  congregation,  as  to  the  claims  of  the  specifically 
Jewish  system ;  its  details,  such  as  circumcision,  or  the 
strict  observance  of  the  Jewish  Sabbath  laws,  or  rules  of 
clean  and  unclean,  being  only  incidentally  mentioned 
in  the  Epistle,  without  any  prominence  being  assigned 
them.*  The  one  ground  of  the  threatened  danger  pressed 
in  it  must,  therefore,  have  been  the  significance  now 
attached  to   the  Jewish  Temple-worship,  in   connection 

1  Heb.  xiii.  23.  ~  Heb.  xiii.  18-23. 

3  Heb.  xiii.  24.  ■*  Heb.  ix.  10  ;  xiii.  9. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS  75 

with  the  religious  life  of  the  hitherto  strictly  Christian 
community.  They  had  evidently  been  led  into  the  error 
of  thinking  that,  to  make  sure  of  the  forgiving  grace  of 
God,  they  must  fall  back  on  the  mediation  of  the  Jewish 
priesthood,  and  on  the  observance  of  the  Old  Testament 
ceremonial  worship.  Unless,  indeed,  we  are  prepared  to 
think  that  one  so  intimately  acquainted  with  the  position 
of  affairs  as  the  author  of  this  Epistle,  was  entirely  in 
error  as  to  his  view  of  the  source  of  danger,  it  must  be 
felt  that  the  peril  to  those  addressed  was  this  disposition 
to  return  to  the  Temple-worship,  very  much  more  than 
any  religious  value  they  might  attach  to  circumcision  and 
the  like.  This,  however,  excludes  all  the  congregations 
in  Paul's  field  of  labour,  for  though  the  Temple,  as  long 
as  it  stood,  must  have  remained  the  centre  of  religious 
interest  for  all  Jewish-born  Christians  even  of  the  Dis- 
persion, yet  it  was  inevitable  that  its  priestly  worship 
could  not  be  the  supreme  influence  on  their  religious 
life,  since  they  very  seldom,  and  often  never,  went  to 
Jerusalem.  That  which  most  intimately  affected  them 
must,  rather,  have  been  the  specially  Jewish  usages  and 
customs,  which  netted-over  the  whole  of  life  with  their 
requirements,  and  were  the  proud  marks  to  every  Jew 
of  his  belonging  to  the  "  holy  nation,"  raising  him  in- 
finitely above  the  "  accursed  "  uncircumcised  world  which 
did  not  know  the  Law.^  The  Jewish  contentions  with 
which  St.  Paul  had  to  fight,  were  always,  as  his  Epistles 
show  throughout,  about  these  details,  which  imply  no 
personal  share  in  the  Temple-worship. 

This    fact    at    once    shuts    out    the    theory    that    the 
"  Hebrews "  was  written  to  the  Christians  at  Rome. 

^  John  vii.  49. 


76  ST.    PETER 

As  to  the  idea  that  the  readers  addressed  were  the 
Jewish-Christians  of  Alexandria,  it  is  largely  based  on  the 
fact  that  there  was- a  Jewish  temple  at  Leontopolis,  in 
the  Delta  of  Egypt,  founded  about  B.C.  180,  by  the  exiled 
high-priest  Onias.  But  it  was  a  poor  copy  of  the  mother 
sanctuary,  and  never  had  such  a  standing  among  the 
Alexandrian  Jews  that  the  local  Jewish-Christian  church 
could  have  been  in  any  danger  of  relapsing  into  Judaism 
through  its  influence.  Indeed  the  philosophising  spirit 
illustrated  by  Philo,  had  so  sublimated  the  whole  Jewish 
system,  that  the  outward  observance  of  the  national  rites, 
and  even  of  their  local  Temple-worship,  had  largely  given 
place  to  a  mere  symbolical  interpretation  of  them,  which 
offered  no  temptations  to  the  Christian  community. 

Hence  Palestine  only  could  have  presented  that  full 
and  exact  display  of  the  Old  Testament  Temple-worship 
which  is  the  form  of  Judaism  assailed  in  our  Epistle. 
There,  also,  it  was  natural  to  find  a  purely  Jewish  church, 
and  there,  above  all  places,  it  is  conceivable  how  kindly 
relations  could  be  found  with  the  school  of  Paul,  in  spite 
of  high  Judaistic  tendencies.  For,  while,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  land,  and  especially  the  Holy  City,  fostered  a  tenacious 
reverence  for  the  customs  and  faith  of  their  people ;  a 
reverence  which  Paul  and  his  helpers  had  honoured,  so 
long  as  it  did  not  imperil  the  vital  truths  of  the  Gospel;^ 
on  the  other  hand,  the  great  Apostle  had  shown  his  deep 
loyalty  to  his  Jewish  brethren,  by  the  collections  he  had 
gathererl,  at  huge  cost  of  toil  and  anxiety,  and  he  had 
been  thrown  into  Eoman  captivity  by  his  personally 
bringing  these  to  Jerusalem.  Proof  of  this  kindly  feeling 
had  indeed  been  strikingly  shown  on  his  arrival  in  the 

^    1  Cor.  vii.  18  ;  ix.  20. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO    THE   HEBREWS  7/ 

Holy  City,  at  his  last  generous  but  fatal  visit;  the  brethren 
"receiving  him  gladly,"  and  he,  on  his  part,  proving  his 
wide  charity  by  identifying  himself  with  Jewish  brethren 
wishing  to  be  legally  absolved  from  temporary  Nazarite 
vows,  and  attending  with  them  in  the  Temple  for  the  dis- 
charge of  the  necessary  rites ;  a  large-hearted  service  which 
had  ended  so  sadly.^  The  incidental  hints  in  the  Epistle, 
as  to  the  past  history  of  the  church  addressed,  and  as  to 
their  present  condition,  suit  the  story  of  no  other  congre- 
gation as  they  do  that  of  the  mother  church  at  Jerusalem, 
up  to  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Jewish  War. 
Allusions  appear,  as  it  would  seem,  to  the  persecution 
at  the  death  of  Stephen,  to  the  death  of  James  the  Elder, 
and  that  of  James  the  Younger,  in  A.D.  62,-  while  the 
bitter  trials  endured  at  the  hand  of  the  high-priest,  after 
his  killing  the  last-named  martyr,  seem  also  to  be  recalled 
to  the  mind  of  the  readers.^ 

The  authorship  of  this  great  Epistle  has  been  so 
much  disputed,  that  it  becomes  criticism  to  be  no  less 
modest  and  diffident  in  discussing  the  question,  than  in 
deciding  as  to  the  congregation  addressed,  which  has 
been  variously  imagined  to  have  been  in  Spain,  Pontus, 
Galatia,  Cappadocia,  the  province  of  Asia,  Macedonia, 
Greece,  Thessalonica,  Ephesus,  Laodicea,  Antioch,  Corinth, 
Cyprus,  Lycaonia,  Italy,  Eome,  and  a  number  of  other 
places.  In  the  same  way,  the  author  has  been  variously 
supposed  to  have  been  Paul,  Barnabas,  Luke,  Clemens 
Eomanus,  Silvanus,  and  Apollos,  but  the  result  of  the 
most  searching  study,  amidst  the  conflict  of  opinion,  and 
the  contradictions  of  evidence,  can  only  be,  to  leave  the 

1  Acts  xxi.  17,  20  ff. 
2  Heb.  X.  32  ff.  ;  xiii.  7  ;  Acts  viii.  1  ff.  ^  Heb.  xiii.  12. 


78  ST.    PETER 

question  no  less  doubtful  than  that  respecting  the  circle 
to  which  the  Epistle  was  written. 

The  belief  that  we  are  indebted  to  St.  Paul  for  this 
great  contribution  to  the  sacred  writings  is  alike  ancient 
and  widely  spread,  as  was  natural,  from  its  tone  so 
strongly  resembling  that  of  his  acknowledged  writings, 
and  from  Timothy  being  mentioned  in  it  as  in  close  rela- 
tions with  its  author.^  But  on  close  examination  we 
find  nothing  that  decides  this,  while  there  is  much  that 
appears  to  show  that  it  is  without  any  real  support.  It 
would  be  tiresome  and  useless  to  drag  the  general  reader 
through  citations  of  the  arguments,  one  way  or  other,  of 
Christian  antiquity,  but  it  is  undoubted  that  the  testi- 
mony in  favour  of  St.  Paul  having  written  it  is  neither 
so  universal  nor  so  confident  as  might  be  expected,  had 
the  Epistle  been  regarded  from  the  first  as  his.  The 
Alexandrian  church,  while  not  pronouncing  against  its 
being  so,  is  not  at  all  decided  in  its  opinion.  Paul  is 
named,  indeed,  as  author,  by  an  Alexandrian,  about  the 
middle  of  the  second  century,  but  he  weakens  his  opinion 
by  attributing  the  absence  of  Paul's  name  in  the  title 
— contrary  to  his  constant  practice  in  his  other  writings 
— to  the  prejudice  of  the  Judaisers  against  him,  or  to 
a  profound  sense  of  inferiority  in  the  apostle  to  our 
Lord,  who,  as  the  writer  thinks,  had  been  the  Apostle 
originally  sent  by  God  to  them.^  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
however,  does  not  venture  to  think  the  Epistle  in  its 
present  state  directly  assignable  to  Paul,  but  fancies  that 
the  absence  of  the  apostle's  name,  and  the   differences 

1  Heb.  xiii.  23. 

^  Pantaenus,  with  whom  agrees  Clement  of  Alexandria,  his  scholar,  in 
the  end  of  the  second  and  the  opening  of  the  third  century.  Euseb. 
Eccles.  Hist.  vi.  14. 


THE   EPISTLE  TO   THE   HEBREWS  79 

from  his  ordinary  style,  indicate  its  having  been  written  for 
Paul  by  St.  Luke,  from  a  Hebrew  original  actually  by  the 
apostle.^  Origen,  who  died  in  a.d.  254,  fancies  that  only 
the  thoughts  embodied  in  the  Epistle  are  Paul's;  the 
language  and  composition  being  those  of  some  one  else. 
"If,"  says  he,  "any  church  considers  this  epistle  as  coming 
from  St.  Paul,  let  it  be  commended  for  this,  .  .  .  but  who 
it  was  that  actually  wrote  it,  God  only  knows."  ^  In  the 
old  Syrian  Church,  the  Epistle  is  placed,  in  the  ancient 
Peschito  Version,  dating  about  the  close  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, after  the  other  Epistles  of  Paul,  as  if  to  show  that  it 
is  regarded  as  entitled  to  that  position  from  its  resem- 
blance to  them  in  character,  while  not  really  one  of  them. 
But  while  the  Eastern  churches  were  favourable  to  at 
least  the  indirect  authorship  of  Paul,  those  of  the  West, 
in  the  first  centuries,  questioned  his  having  any  connec- 
tion with  it.  Tertullian  fancies  it  written  by  Barnabas ; 
stating  this  as  if  it  were  the  common  opinion  of  the 
African  churches,^  as  it  was,  apparently,  of  Cyprian  of 
Carthage.  Nor  did  the  old  Eoman  churches  think  the 
Epistle  was  by  Paul,  though  they  furnish  the  earliest  trace 
of  its  being  in  use  among  the  congregations.  Even  in  the 
middle  of  the  third  century  it  was  not  attributed  to  our 
apostle,  or  even  accepted  as  canonical ;  Eusebius,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  fourth  century,  telling  us  that,  even  then, 
"  some  of  the  Ptomans  do  not  consider  it  to  be  the  work 
of  the  apostles."  It  was  only  from  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century  that  the  authorship  by  Paul  found  gradual 
acceptance  in  the  West,  through  the  influence  of  the  East 
in  such  matters. 

^  Euseb.  Eccles.  Hist.  vi.  14.  -  Euseb.  Ecces.  Hist.  vi.  25. 

'^  TertuU.  de  Pudicitia,  c.  20. 


80  ST.    PETER 

The  incidental  glimpses  which  the  Epistle  gives  us  of 
its  author,  are  an  additional  reason  for  ascribing  it  to 
some  other.  Thus,  he  speaks  of  himself  ^  as  having  learned 
the  Gospel  not  directly  from  Christ,  but  from  the  lips  of 
those  who  heard  Him ;  language  which  it  was  impossible 
for  Paul,  of  all  men,  to  use,  for  it  places  him  in  an 
inferiority  to  the  Twelve,  and  assigns  him  no  higher  rank 
than  that  claimed  by  Luke.^  How  different  from  the  way 
in  which  Paul  always  speaks  of  his  apostolate,  as  given 
by  Christ  directly,  and  of  his  having  been  taught  the 
Gospel  by  no  human  agents  !  ^ 

Support  has  been  thought  to  be  found  in  the  words 
translated, in  our  Authorised  Version,*  "Ye  had  compassion 
of  me  in  my  bonds,"  but  this  vanishes  when  we  learn 
that  the  true  reading  is,  "Ye  had  compassion  on  them 
that  were  in  bonds."  In  the  request,  in  another  text,  that 
the  Hebrews  would  pray  for  him,^  a  further  allusion 
has  been  fancied  to  be  made  to  Paul's  imprisonment, 
but  we  learn  a  few  verses  beyond,  that  the  writer  was 
not  in  prison,  but  ready  to  visit  the  congregation  ad- 
dressed, with  Timothy,  then  recently  set  at  liberty.^  Nor 
is  Paul's  authorship  involved  from  the  mention  of  Timothy 
as  in  brotherly  relations  to  the  composer,  for  Paul  speaks 
of  that  loved  one  rather  as  his  son  than  his  brother, 
though,  no  doubt,  using  both  expressions  at  different 
times.  But  for  the  single  case  in  which  he  calls  him 
"  brother,"  we  have  him  three  times  spoken  of  as  "  his 
true  child,"  his  "child,"  and  his  "beloved  child,"''  and 
he  is  always  referred  to  as  in  a  subordinate  standing  to 

1  Heb.  ii.  3.  2  L^ke  i.  2. 

3  Gal.  i.  1,  11,  12,  15,  16  ;  ii.  6  ;  1  Cor.  ix.  1  ;  xi.  23  ;  Ephes.  iii.  2,  3 

*  Heb.  X.  34.  ^  Heb.  xiii.  18.  «  Heb.  xiii.  23. 

7  2  Cor.  i.  1 ;  1  Tim.  i.  2,  18  ;  2  Tim.  i.  2,  R.V. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS  81 

the  apostle,  which  is  not  the  case  where  he  is  mentioned 
in  the  "  Hebrews."  ^  He  is,  moreover,  spoken  of  as  now 
set  at  liberty,  so  that  his  imprisonment  must  have  been 
a  serious  matter,  lasting  so  long  that  news  of  it  had 
reached  the  readers  of  the  Epistle.  But  there  is  no  hint 
of  any  imprisonment  of  Timothy  while  he  was  Paul's 
helper,  and  hence  it  is  much  more  probable  that  it  befell 
him  after  Paul's  death.  That  it  should,  moreover,  be 
added  "  They  of  Italy  salute  you,"  may  indicate  that  the 
Epistle  was  written  from  some  part  of  that  peninsula, 
but  it  does  not  connect  it  with  St.  Paul  as  the  author.^ 

The  contrast  between  the  style  of  the  writer  of  this 
Epistle  and  that  of  Paul  has,  from  the  earliest  times, 
been  felt  to  prove  that  some  one  else  than  the  great 
Apostle  was  the  author.  Not  only  is  "  Hebrews,"  through- 
out, written  in  purer  Greek  than  Paul's, — its  Hebraisms 
being  mostly  confined  to  the  quotations  from  the  Old 
Testament ;  its  style  is  more  finished  and  rhetorical. 
While  Paul,  as  it  were,  wrestles  with  his  language,  as  if 
his  thoughts  were  too  full  for  adequate  expression ;  and 
grammatical  irregularities,  changes  of  structure  in  his 
sentences,  and  want  of  sequence  in  the  composition,  are 
frequent  with  him,  the  "  Hebrews  "  flows  on  in  smooth 
ease.  Unlike  Paul,  even  where  parentheses  of  striking 
length  are  introduced,  the  writer  turns  back,  at  their 
close,  to  the  strict  continuity  of  his  main  theme.^  While 
Paul  thinks  only  on  the  subject  in  his  mind ;  the  author 
of  this  Epistle,  throughout,  pays  constant  attention  to 
beauty  of  style  and  cultured  rhetoric.  But  while  the 
external  form  is  so  much  more  polished,  the  essential 
force  of  character  displayed,  falls  greatly  behind  that  of 

»  Heb.  xiii.  23.  ^  jjeb.  xiii.  24.  ^  h^.^,  ^jj  oQ  ff. 

IV.  ¥ 


82  ST.    PETER 

the  Apostle,  for  we  miss  the  argumentative  sharpness,  the 
strong  firm  connection  of  thought,  and  the  exactness  and 
clearness  of  expression,  that  mark  the  writings  of  St.  Paul. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  that,  while  there  is  the 
most  perfect  agreement  between  Paul's  Epistles  and  the 
"  Hebrews "  on  all  essential  points,  they  present  the 
Eesurrection  of  Christ  as  the  weightiest  fact  in  the  scheme 
of  salvation,  while  in  "  Hebrews  "  it  is  only  once  casually 
mentioned,  in  the  closing  benediction ;  ^  the  great  themes 
of  the  Epistle  being  the  death  of  Christ  and  His  heavenly 
priesthood,  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

While,  moreover,  Paul  not  only  uses  the  Greek  Bible, 
but  varies  it  by  colourings  from  the  Hebrew  text,  often 
translating  it  for  himself,  and,  as  a  rule,  quoting  from 
memory,  without  verbal  exactness,  —  the  author  of 
"  Hebrews "  quotes  exclusively  from  the  Greek  version, 
and  that,  in  nearly  all  cases,  very  closely,  using  even,  at 
times,  its  misrenderings  of  the  Hebrew,  so  that  he  could 
have  had  little  if  any  acquaintance  with  the  original.^ 
A  curious  side  light  is  further  thrown  on  the  whole 
subject,  by  the  fact  that,  in  his  description  of  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  Jerusalem  Temple,  as  he  supposes  them  still 
existing  at  that  time,^  he  shows  himself  imperfectly  in- 
formed as  to  details  which  could  not  have  been  unknown 
to  Paul,  who  had  lived  for  years  in  the  Holy  City  as  a 
rabbinical  student.  Nor  is  it,  in  any  case,  probable,  that 
he  who  so  strictly  avoided  intruding  on  a  sphere  not 
really  his  own,  would  have  violated  a  principle  so  funda- 
mental with  him,  as  to  have  written  to  a  Jewish-Christian 
congregation,  especially  to  one  in  Palestine,  the  sphere  of 
his  brother  apostles,  and  in  no  sense  his  own. 

1  Heb.  xiii.  20.  2  jjeb.  x.  5-7. 

^  Heb.  ix,  1-6.     See  the  text,  given  hereafter,  as  it  really  stands. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO  THE    HEBREWS  83 

But  if  the  idea  of  Paul  having  written  the  "  Hebrews  " 
be  abandoned,  it  is,  in  my  opinion,  impossible  to  suggest 
with  confidence  any  other  name  as  that  of  its  author. 
Of  St.  Luke  it  is  enough  to  say  that  he  was  a  heathen- 
born  convert,  and,  as  such,  specially  unfitted  to  have 
composed  such  a  Jewish- Christian  Epistle.  Barnabas,  a 
Levite,  long  resident  in  Jerusalem,  where  he  possessed 
property  in  land,^  must,  on  the  other  hand,  have  had  a  per- 
fect acquaintance  with  the  Temple  arrangements,  and  its 
details  of  worship,  and  could  not,  therefore,  have  been 
under  the  misapprehensions  with  respect  to  them  on  some 
points,  which  meet  us  in  the  Epistle.  Silvanus  has  been 
proposed  as  author,  but  he,  also,  was  a  Jerusalem  man, 
and  must  have  been  as  familiar  as  Barnabas  with  every- 
thing about  the  temple. 

The  name  of  Apollos  was  first  suggested  as  the  writer 
by  Luther,  and  has  much  in  its  favour.  The  glimpses  of 
him  which  we  have  in  the  Acts,  and  in  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians,  show  endowments  and  character 
strikingly  in  keeping  with  the  unconscious  touches  of 
self-disclosure  given  us  by  the  writer  of  the  ''Hebrews." 
So  marked,  indeed,  are  the  undesigned  coincidences,  that 
it  neutralises  any  weight  otherwise  due  to  the  fact, 
that  among  the  conjectures  respecting  the  authorship  in 
antiquity,  his  name  does  not  appear.  He  was  not  a 
direct  disciple  of  Christ,  but  belonged  to  the  second 
generation  of  converts.  He  had  been  instructed  care- 
fully in  Christian  doctrine  by  friends  of  Paul,  and  was 
received  by  the  apostle  himself  into  close  personal  rela- 
tions. His  originality  of  mind  and  general  ability,  how- 
ever, so  completely  raised  him  above  the  position  of  a 

1  Acts  iv.  36,  37. 


84  ST    PETER 

mere  subordinate,  that,  against  his  desire,  a  section  of  the 
Corinthian  church  became  specially  his  followers.  A 
Jew  by  birth,  his  zeal  as  a  Christian  teacher  naturally 
turned  towards  his  own  race, — so  that  his  intimacy  with 
the  Palestine  Jews,  to  whom  the  "  Hebrews  "  was  sent,  is 
easily  understood.  As  a  Jew  of  Alexandria,  he  was 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  and  skilled  in  expounding  and 
applying  them,  so  as  to  bring  forward  the  multiplied 
proofs  they  offered  of  Jesus  being  the  Messiah.  More- 
over, as  an  Alexandrian,  the  predominantly  typical- 
symbolic  mode  of  writing  in  the  Epistle,  seeking  to  show 
a  deeper  and  more  spiritual  meaning  underneath  the 
literal,  is  exactly  the  mental  peculiarity  his  training 
would  give  him.  Above  all,  he  was  distinguished  by  the 
gift  of  a  brilliant  eloquence,  just  such  as  the  "Hebrews" 
offers  us,  while  Alexandria  would  equip  him  with  the 
culture,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Greek  Bible  exclusively, 
which  the  Epistle  shows,  though  it  is  not  surprising  that 
he  should  remain  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  minor 
arrangements  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  On  all  these 
UTOunds  he  seems  to  have  the  best  claims  to  the  author- 
ship.  Yet  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  he  was  the  only 
man,  whether  of  Alexandria  or  elsewhere,  who,  in  that 
age,  was  "  learned  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,"  or  who 
was  marked  by  the  various  characteristics  shown  in  the 
Epistle.  It  can  always  be  urged,  moreover,  that  not  the 
smallest  evidence  can  be  produced  that  Apollos  wrote 
it,  while  the  idea  that  he  possessed  the  peculiar  powers 
shown  in  "Hebrews"  may  be  a  wrong  inference  from 
the  few  words  told  us  respecting  him.  His  name,  in  fact, 
can  only  be  advanced  as  a  probable  conjecture. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS — (Contimicd). 

The  Mosaic  dispensation  inferior  to  the  Christian. 

I.  1.  God  having  spoken,  of  old  times,  to  the  fathers,  in  the 
prophets,  in  different  portions  and  different  ways,  2.  has,  at 
the  end  of  these  days,^  before  the  return  of  our  Lord,  spoken 
to  us  in  Him,  His  Son,  whom  He  has  appointed  heir  of  all 
things,  through  whom  also  He  made  the  worlds  ;  3.  who  being 
the  effulgence  or  out-shining  of  His  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  His  substance  or  essence,  as  the  coin  is  the  dupli- 
cate of  the  die,  and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  His 
power, — after  He  had  made  our  cleansing  from  sins,  by  His 
death,2  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high ; 
4.  having  become  so  much  higher  than  the  angels,  as  He  has 
inherited  a  more  exalted  name — that  of  Son, — than  they. 

Infinite  elevation  of  our  Lord,  as  the  Son,  above  Angels. 

5.  For  to  which  of  the  angels  has  He,  God,  said  at  any  time, 
Tliou  art  My  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee?^  and 
again — /  vdll  he  to  Him  a  Father,  and  He  shall  he  to  Me  a 
So7i?*  6.  And,  when  He  bringeth  in  the  first-born  of  many 
brethren^  again,  into  the  world,  at  His  second  coming,  He, 
God,  says,  A7id  let  all  the  angels  of  God  ivorship  Him.^  7. 
And  of  the  angels  He  says — Who  makes  His  angels  winds, 
and   His   ministers   a  flame   of  fire."^       8.    But   of   the    Son 

1  Heb.  X.  37 ;  ix.  26.  ^  geb.  x.  12,  14.  «  Ps.  ii.  7. 

*  -2  Sam.  vii.  14,  LXX.  ^  Rom.  viii.  29. 

^  Deut.  xxxii,  43,  LXX.     The  words  are  not  in  the  Hebrew. 

'  Ps.  civ.  4.     That,  in  contrast  to  the  Son,  who  is  the  same  yesterday, 

to-day,  and  for  ever,  the  angels,  as  inferior,  were  subject  to  be  changed 

85 


86  ST.   PETEE 

He  says — Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever;  and  the 
sreptre  of  purest  right  is  the  sceptre  of  Thy  kingdom.  9.  Thou 
hast  loved  righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity ;  therefore  God, 
Thy  God,  has  anointed  Thee  tvith  the  oil  of  gladness  above 
Thy  fellows.'^  10.  And — Thou,  Lord,^  in  the  heginnirig  hast 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  work 
of  Thy  hands :  11.  they  shall  perish,  hut  Thou  continuest :  and 
they  shall  all  icax  old  as  does  a  garment ;  12.  and  as  a  mantle 
thrown  round  one  shall  Thou  roll  thern  up,  or  as  a  garment, 
and  they  shall  he  changed :  hut  Thou  art  the  same  and  Thy 
years  shall  not  fail.  13.  But  of  which  of  the  angels  has  He 
ever  said — Sit  TJiou  on  My  right  hand,  till  I  make  Thine 
enemies  the  footstool  of  Thy  feet?^  14.  Are  not  they,  the 
angels,  all,  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  do  service  on 
behalf  of  them  who  shall  inherit  salvation  ? 

II.  1.  Therefore,  since  Christ,  as  the  mediator  of  the  New 
Covenant,  is  so  exalted  above  the  angels,  who  were  the  medi- 
ators of  the  Old  Covenant,^  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest 
heed,  or,  to  hold  the  more  firmly,  to  what  we  have  heard,  that 
is,  to  the  Gospel  preached  to  us  by  our  Lord  and  His  apostles, 
lest  we  may  haply  drift  away  and  lose  what  they  offer  us. 
2.  For  if  the  word  of  the  Mosaic  law,  spoken,  as  your  tradi- 
tion teaches,  through  angels,^  proved  steadfast  in  its  threats 
and  penalties,  and  every  transgression  and  disobedience  re- 

into  whatever  form  God  pleased,  for  special  ends,  was  often  maintained 
by  the  rabbis.  Thus  in  Schemoth  Rabba,  sect.  25,  fol.  123,  3,  we  read, 
"  Sometimes  He  makes  the  angels  into  winds,  as  it  is  said,  *  Who  makest 
Thy  angels  winds,'  and  sometimes  into  fire,  as  it  is  written,  'And  Thy 
ministers  a  flame  of  fire.'  "  So  Jalkut  Simeoni,  Part  ii.,  fol.  11,  3  :  "The 
angel  said  to  Manoah,  '  I  do  not  know  into  what  or  whose  likeness  I  am 
made,  for  God  changes  our  form  hour  by  hour  ;  why,  therefore,  do  you 
ask  my  name?  Sometimes  He  makes  us  fire,  sometimes  winds,  sometimes 
men,  and  then,  again,  angels.' " 

^  Ps.  xlv.  6,  7.  The  psalm  is  an  epithalamium  for  some  Jewish  king, 
but  it  is  applied  to  the  Messiah  by  the  rabbis,  as  well  as  in  our  text. 

2  Ps.  cii.  25-27,  from  the  LXX.,  which  substitutes  "Lord" — the  usual 
name  for  Christ — for  the  "  Jehovah  "  of  the  Hebrew. 

3  Ps.  ex.  1,  LXX.          4  Gal.  ii.  19.  «*  Geikie's  "St.  Panl,"  i.  35. 


THE    EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  87 

ceived  a  just  punishment :  3.  how  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect 
so  great  salvation — so  high  above  that  of  the  Mosaic  law? — 
which  having  at  the  first  been  spoken  through  the  Lord,  not 
through  mere  angels,  was  confirmed  to  us  by  them  that  heard 
it  from  the  Lord's  lips;  4.  God,  Himself,  further  bearing  wit- 
ness to  it,  in  connection  with  them,  by  signs  and  wonders,  and 
by  manifold  powers  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  imparted  to 
believers,  according  to  His  own  will. 

Further  disclosure  of  the  relation  of  Jesus  to  the 
angels,  and  proof  from  this  of  the  necessity  of  His  death 
are  now  given.  Scripture  tells  us  that  the  Messianic 
economy  is  to  be  under  the  Son  of  Man ;  not  under  the 
angels,  and  yet,  undoubtedly.  He  was  for  a  short  time 
made  lower  than  they  are.  But  that  was  necessary,  that 
He  might  win  our  salvation ;  for  He  must  needs  suffer  and 
die,  and  be  made  in  all  things  like  us,  His  brethren,  to  be 
able  to  intercede  effectually  with  God  for  us,  as  our  great 
High  Priest. 

5.  For  He,  God,  did  not  subject  the  world  to  come,  of  which 
we  speak,  to  angels.  6.  But  one  has  somewhere  testified, 
saying,^  What  is  man,  ihat  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  Or  the 
son  of  man,  that  Thou  visitest  him  ?  7.  lliou  madest  him  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels;  Thou  croiunedst  him  ivith  glory  and 
honour,  and  didst  set  him  over  the  works  of  Thy  Itands :  8.  Thou 
didst  put  all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet.  For  in  saying 
that  "all  things  are  subjected  to  him,"  He,  God,  left  out 
nothing  as  not  subjected  to  him.  But  we  do  not,  now,  as  yet, 
see  all  things  thus  subjected  to  him.  9.  But,  though  this  be 
so,  the  Scripture  is  vindicated,  for  we  see  Him — Jesus,  who 
has  been  made  for  a  little  while  lower  than  the  angels, 
by  His  becoming  man,  now  crowned  with  glory  and  honour, 
because  of   the   suffering   of   death,   to  which   He   humbled 

^   Ps.  viii.  5-7,  LXX.  verbatim. 


88  ST.    PETER 

Himself,  as  ordained  by  the  sovereign  grace  and  love  of 
Godji  that  He  should,  as  Saviour,  taste  death  for  every  man. 
10.  For  it  became  Him  for  whom  are  all  things  and  through 
whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  to  glory,  to 
make  the  author  of  their  salvation  perfect,  as  such,  through 
sufferings. 

God's  true  people  are  His  "  sons/'  and  as  such,  are  one 
with  Jesus  the  Son. 

11.  For  both  He  that  sanctifies  believers  and  they  that 
are  sanctified  through  His  atoning  death,  are  all  sons  of  one 
Father :  for  which  cause  He,  Jesus,  the  sanctifier,  is  not 
ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,  12.  saying, — I  will  declare 
Thy  name  unto  My  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation 
will  I  sing  Thy  yraise  ]^  13.  and  again,  /  will  put  My  trust 
in  Him.  And  again.  Behold  I  and  the  children  whom  God 
hath  given  Me.^ 

That  Christ  should  submit  to  death  was  necessary,  in 
order  that  He  might  be  the  Saviour  of  sinful  men.  But 
to  be  capable  of  enduring  sufifering,  He  must  become  a 
man  like  other  men,  and  stand  on  the  same  footing  as 
that  of  those  to  be  redeemed. 

14.  Since  then  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and 
blood.  He  also  Himself,  in  the  same  way,  took  part  in  the 
same ;  that  through  death  He  might  bring  to  nought  him 
that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  15.  and  might 
deliver  all  them  who,  through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their 
lifetime  held  in  bondage. 

1  John  iii.  16  ;  Rom.  v.  8  ;  Gal.  ii.  21. 

^  Ps.  xxii.  22,  LXX.  verbatim,  except  the  first  word.  In  its  direct 
application  these  words  are  a  vow  of  praise  to  God,  by  the  composer  of  the 
psalm,  for  deliverance,  which  he  craves  from  Him,  out  of  great  trouble. 
The  author  of  the  Epistle  applies  it  to  the  Messiah. 

•  Isa.  viii.  17,  18. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  89 

The  necessity  for  the  Saviour  becoming  man  is  pre- 
sented from  another  point  of  view. 

16.  For,  truly,  He  does  not  take  hold  of  angels,  to  help  and 
succour  them,  but  He  takes  hold  of  the  seed  of  Abraham, — you 
Jews, — though  He  is  also  the  Saviour  of  all  others  who  believe. 
17.  Therefore  it  behoved  Him  to  be  made  like  His  brethren 
in  all  things,  in  flesh  and  blood,  in  life  and  in  dsring,  that  He 
might  be  a  sympathetic  and  faithful  high  priest  in  matters 
pertaining  to  their  relations  to  God,  to  make  propitiation  for 
the  sins  of  the  people.  18.  For  in  that  He  Himself  has 
suffered,  being  tempted,  He  is  able  to  succour  them  that  are 
tempted. 

But  Christ  is  also  higher  than  Moses,  since  the  Son, 
who  rules  over  the  house,  is  higher  than  the  servants  of 
the  house.  Thus,  as  he  is  above  the  angelic  mediators  of 
the  Old  Covenant,  so  He  is  above  its  human  mediator. 

III.  1.  Therefore,  holy  brethren,  partakers  of  a  heavenly 
calling,  consider  the  apostle  and  high  priest  of  our  Christian 
confession, — our  Christian  faith,  even  Jesus  ;  2.  who  was 
faithful  to  Him,  God,  who  appointed  Him  to  this  office,  as 
also  was  Moses  in  all  His,  God's,  house — His  people  Israel — 
then  the  "  Kingdom  of  God."  3.  For  He  has  been  counted 
by  God  worthy  of  more  glory  than  Moses,  as  He  who  built  the 
house  has  more  honour  than  the  house.  4.  For  every  house 
is  built  by  some  one ;  but  He  that  built  all  things  is  God,  and 
thus  the  New  Covenant  no  less  than  the  Old,  is  God's. 
5.  And  as  to  Moses,  He  indeed  was  faithful  in  all  His,  God's, 
house,  as  a  servant,  for  the  testifying  to  those  things,  the 
commands  of  the  Law,  which  were  afterwards  to  be  spoken, 
from  Sinai.  6.  But  Christ  was  faithful  as  a  Son,  over  His, 
God's,  house;  whose  house  are  we,  if  we  hold  fast  our  firm 
confidence,  and  the  glorying  in  our  hope,  steadfast  to  the  end, 
that  is,  till  He  come. 


90  ST.    PETER 

To  stimulate  all  to  this  tenacious  loyalty  to  the  Gospel, 
let  the  exhortation  of  God  to  them,  based  on  the  failure 
of  their  ancestors  to  realise  a  similar  hope  held  out  to 
them,  of  entering  into  the  Promised  Land,  dwell  in  their 
minds.  For,  they  well  knew  that  the  generation  saved 
from  Egypt,  after  all,  came  short  of  Canaan,  and  perished 
in  the  wilderness,  through  their  unbelief. 

7.  Therefore,  even  as  the  Holy  Ghost  says  through  the 
prophet,^  To-day,  if  ye  iinll  hear  His  voice,  8,  harden  not  your 
hearts,  as  it  happened  in  the  provocation,  or,  in  the  Hebrew, 
at  Massah  and  Meribah^ — harden  not  your  hearts,  I  say, 
as  in  the  day  of  tem/jtafioii  of  God,  by  the  rebelliousness  of 
the  people  in  the  wilderness,  9.  in  which  your  fathers  tempted 
Me,  and  put  Me  to  the  proof,  and,  as  the  result,  saio  My 
works  forty  years,  in  which  I  kept  them  in  the  desert.  10. 
Therefore  1  was  displeased  loith  this  generation,  and  said,  They 
do  always  err  in  their  heart :  hut  they  did  not  come  to  hnoiv  My 
loaijs ;  that  I  would  keep  My  word  during  all  these  forty 
years.  11.  As  I  swore  it  in  My  lurath  ^  when  they  murmured 
at  the  report  of  the  spies,  while  still  fresh  from  Sinai — 
S3i.yi7ig—They  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest. 

In  this  quotation,  "  To-day "  is  used  as  the  time  of 
salvation  which  had  opened  with  the  ministry  of  Christ, 
and  the  voice  of  God  is  the  offer  of  mercy,  which  went 
forth  through  the  Gospel,  to  those  addressed.  The  forty 
years  during  which  the  Jews  are  said  to  have  seen  God's 
works,  are  joined,  in  the  Hebrew,  to  the  next  verse,  so 
that  it  makes  God  to  have  been  displeased  with  them  all 
that  time ;  the  change  having  very  possibly  been  made 

^  Ps.  xcv.  7  ff.  from  LXX.  with  slight  variations,  doubtless  from  a 
different  Hebrew  text. 

2  Exod.  xvii.  7  ;  Num.  xx.  13,  24  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  51  ;  Ps.  Ixxxi. 
*  Num.  xiv.  23. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  91 

by  the  writer  of  the  Epistle,  to  suggest  a  parallel,  in  the 
minds  of  his  readers,  between  the  time  during  which  God 
bore  with  their  fathers,  and  the  nearly  equal  time  during 
which  the  Gospel  had  been  among  them;  dating  from  the 
opening  of  Christ's  ministry.  The  lesson  and  warning 
now  go  on  still  more  earnestly. 

12.  Take  heed,  brethren,  lest  haply  there  shall  be  in  any  of 
you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief,  showing  itself  in  falling  away 
from  the  living  God  :  13.  but  exhort  one  another,  day  by  day, 
as  long  as  it  is  called  To-day ;  lest  any  of  you  be  hardened  by 
the  deceitfulness  of  sin;  14.  for  we  have  become  partakers  of 
Christ — in  His  graces  bestowed  here,  and  in  His  glory  here- 
after, if  we  hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  confidence  firm  to 
the  end.  15.  When  it  is  said,  then — To-day,  if  ye  will  hear 
His  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts,  as  in  the  p7'ovocation,  16.  who, 
I  would  ask,  were  they,  who,  although  they  heard  God's  voice, 
thus  provoked  Him  ?  Was  it  not,  indeed,  all  they  that  came 
out  of  Egypt  by  Moses  ?  17.  And  with  whom  was  He  dis- 
pleased forty  years  ?  Was  it  not  with  them  that  sinned, 
whose  carcases  fell  in  the  wilderness?  18.  And  to  whom 
did  He  swear  that  they  should  not  enter  iuto  His  rest,  but  to 
them  that  were  disobedient?  19.  We  see,  then,  that  they 
were  not  able  to  enter  in  because  of  unbelief. 

The  divine  promise  of  entering  into  God's  rest  is,  thus, 
it  is  implied,  not  yet  fulfilled.  Let  all  take  care  that  the 
salvation  offered  to  them  in  Christ  be  not  forfeited  by 
their  disobedience  or  unbelief,  as  the  possession  of  Canaan 
was  lost  by  that  generation. 

IV.  1.  Let  us  therefore  fear,  lest,  haply,  while  a  promise  is 
still  continued  of  His  people  entering  into  His,  God's,  rest,  any 
of  you  should  be  hereafter  adjudged  to  have  come  short  of  it. 
2.  For,  indeed,  we  have  had  good  tidings  preached  to  us,  just 


92  ST.   PETER 

as  they  had :  but  the  word  which  they  thus  heard  did  not 
profit  them,  not  being  received  into  the  hearts,  and  thus  being 
united,  by  faith  in  it,  with  the  conscience  of  them  that  heard 
it  3.  For  we  only  who  have  believed  do  really  enter  by 
faith,  even  here,  into  that  rest  of  God ;  as  He  has  said, — As  I 
sware  in  My  wrath,  they  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest.  Though 
the  works  of  God  were  finished  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world ;  immediately  after  which  God's  Sabbath-rest  began,  in 
which  the  Israelites,  had  they  been  worthy,  could  at  once 
have  had  a  share.  4.  For  He,  God,  has  spoken  in  this  way 
in  one  place,  of  the  seventh  day,  And  God  7'ested  on  the 
seventh  day  from  all  His  ivorJcs.  5.  And  in  this  place,  again — 
They  shall  not  enter  into  My  rest. 

Since  the  promise  of  entering  into  the  Eest  of  God  is 
not  yet  fulfilled,  it  is  all  important  that  they  do  not  shut 
themselves  out  of  it  by  falling  away  from  Christ. 

6.  Seeing  therefore  that  it  remains  certain  that  some  must 
enter  into  it,  and  they,  your  forefathers,  to  whom  the  good 
tidings  of  God's  rest  in  the  promised  land  were,  in  earlier 
times,  preached,  failed  to  enter  in  because  of  disobedience, 
7.  He,  God,  again,  in  later  days,  appoints  a  certain  day,  say- 
ing in  David,  that  is,  the  Psalms, — so  long  after  His  first 
speaking,  To-day,  as  it  has  before  been  said.  To-day,  if  ye 
loill  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts.'^  8.  For  if 
Joshua  had  given  them  rest,  He,  God,  would  not  have  spoken 
afterwards  of  another  day.  9.  There  remaineth  therefore  a 
Sabbath-rest,  as  your  rabbis  call  it,  for  the  people  of  God. 
10.  For  he,  among  men,  that  is  entered  into  His,  God's,  rest, 
has,  Himself,  also,  rested  from  His  works,  as  God  did  from 
His.  11.  Let  us,  therefore,  give  diligence  to  enter  into  that 
rest,  that  no  man  fall  after  the  same  example  of  disobedience. 

Solemn    enforcement    of    this    exhortation;    all    the 

1  Ps.  xcv.  7,  8. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  93 

threatenings  of  God's  word,  in  the  Psalm  just  quoted, 
being  certain  of  fulfilment,  as  truly  as  its  conditional 
promise. 

12.  For  the  Word  of  God,  just  quoted,  is  living,  and 
full  of  living  energy,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword, 
and  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  of  soul  and  spirit,  of  both 
joints  and  marrow,  and  it  is  quick  to  discern  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart.  13.  And  there  is  no  creature  that  is 
not  manifest  in  His  sight ;  but  all  things  are  naked  and  laid 
bare  before  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 

Christ  has  been  shown  to  be  higher  than  the  angels 
and  than  Moses :  He  is  now  shown  to  be  infinitely 
exalted  above  the  Levitical  priesthood,  with  whose  office 
his  has  been  compared. 

14.  Having  then  a  great  high  priest,  who  has  passed 
through  the  heavens,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  let  us  hold  fast 
our  confession  of  Him  as  such,  and  as  our  Saviour.  15.  For  we 
have  not  a  high  priest  who  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities ;  but  one  who  has  been  tempted,  in  all  points, 
just  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.  16.  Let  us  therefore  draw 
near  with  confidence,  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we  may 
receive  mercy,  and  may  find  grace  to  help  us  in  time  of  need. 

There  are  two  necessary  characteristics  of  the  earthly 
high-priest ;  he  must  be  a  man,  that  as  such,  subject  to 
human  weakness,  he  may  be  able  to  sympathise  with  the 
erring,  and,  also,  that  he  should  have  been  called  by  God 
to  his  office;  not  self-appointed.  Both  these  character- 
istics are  to  be  found  in  Christ. 

V.  1.  For  every  high  priest,  being  taken  from  among  men, 
is  appointed  for  men,  in  things  pertaining  to  God — that  is,  to 
perform  the  religious  ministrations  required  by  God,  namely 


94  ST.    PETER 

— that  he  as  priest  may  offer  to  Him  both  gifts  and  sacrifices 
for  sins,  2.  as  one  who  can  deal  gently  with  the  ignorant  and 
erring,  since  he  himself  also  is  compassed  with  infirmity, 
3.  and  is,  on  this  ground,  bound,  as  for  the  people,  so,  also, 
for  himself,  to  ofier  for  sins. 

He  must  also  be  appointed  to  his  office  by  God. 

4.  And  as  no  man  takes  the  honour  to  himself,  save  he 
who  is  called  to  it  by  God,  as  was  Aaron,  5.  so  Christ,  also, 
did  not  of  Himself  assume  the  glory  of  a  high  priest,  but  He 
was  thus  exalted  by  Him  who  said  to  Him,  Tliou  art  My  Son, 
this  day  haue  I  begotten  Thee}  6.  as  He  says  also,  in  another 
place,  Thou  art  a  yriest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  MelchisedekP' 

So  far,  indeed,  was  He  from  appointing  Himself  to  His 
office,  that,  throughout  all  His  life,  He  showed  the  most 
lowly  obedience  to  God,  in  all  that  the  divine  will  ordered, 
in  fitting  Him  perfectly  for  it. 

7.  Who,  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  having  offered  up  prayers 
and  supplications,  with  strong  crying  and  tears,  to  Him  who 
was  able  to  save  Him  from  death,  and  having  for  His  reverend 
fear  of  God  been  heard  by  Him,  as  we  see  in  His  rising  from 
the  dead  and  entering  into  His  heavenly  glory;  8.  thus, 
though  He  was  a  Son,  yet  even  He  learned  obedience,  through 
the  things  which  He  suffered  :  9.  and  so  having  been  made 
perfect.  He  became  to  all  them  that  obey  Him,  the  author  of 
eternal  salvation  ;  10.  being  declared  by  God  a  high  priest 
after  the  order  of  Melchisedek. 

The  high-priestly  office  of  Christ  is  now  to  be  set  forth 
at  greater  length,  but,  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  readers, 
the  writer  feels  it  needful  to  remark,  how  much  farther 
below  the  standard  of  Christian  knowledge  they  are,  than, 

1   Ps.  ii.  7.  2  Ps.  ex.  4. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  95 

for  the  time  they  have  been  believers,  was  to  be  expected. 
He  urges  them,  therefore,  to  advance,  and  warns  them 
of  the  hopeless  position  of  those,  who,  while  knowing  fully 
the  blessedness  of  Christianity,  fall  away  from  it.  May 
those  still  faithful  continue  so  to  the  end ! 

11.  On  which  subject  we  have  many  things  to  say,  yet  it  is 
hard  to  make  them  plain  to  you,  because  you  have  become 
dull  of  hearing.  12.  For  though,  according  to  the  time  since 
you  became  Christians,  you  ought  to  be  teachers,  jou.  have 
need,  that  some  one  teach  you  again,  the  very  rudiments  of 
the  oracles  of  God,  and  have  come  to  need  milk  again,  and 
not  solid  food;  13.  for  every  one  who  takes  to  milk,  is  still 
without  experience  of  the  word  of  righteousness ;  for  he  is  a 
babe.  14.  But  solid  food  is  for  full-grown  men  ;  those  who, 
being  used  to  it,  have  their  minds  trained  and  fitted  to  discern 
between  what  is  good  and  what  is  evil. 

The  motives  that  should  lead  them  to  this  advance 
are  weighty. 

VI.  1.  Therefore,  let  us  cease  to  speak  of  the  first  principles 
of  Christ,  and  press  on  to  the  full  completeness  of  His  doctrine; 
not  laying  again  the  mere  foundation,  the  elementary  doctrines, 
of  repentance  from  dead  works  and  faith  toward  God,  2.  of 
the  meaning  of  baptisms,  and  of  laying  on  of  hands  after 
baptism,  to  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment.  3.  And  this  thing — giving  you 
more  advanced  teaching — will  we  do,  if  God  permit.  4.  For, 
as  respects  those  once  enlightened,  who  have  tasted  the 
heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
6.  and  have  tasted  the  good  word  of  God,  and  the  powers  of 
the  world  to  come,  6.  and  then  fell  away,  it  is  impossible  to 
renew  them  again,  so  as  to  lead  them  to  repentance ;  seeing 
they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  Him 
to  an  open  shame  by  this   apostasy :   for  they  by  such  a 


96  ST.   PETER 

falling  away  treat  Him  as  if  He  had  been  rightly  crucified,  as 
an  evil-doer  and  deceiver.  7.  For  as  the  land  that  has 
drunk-in  the  rain  that  comes  often  on  it,  and  brings  forth 
herbs  meet  far  them  for  whose  sake  it  is  tilled,  receives 
blessing  from  God ;  8.  yet,  if,  instead  of  this,  it  bear  thorns 
and  thistles,  it  is  treated  as  worthless  by  God,  and  is  near  the 
curse  of  eternal  barrenness ;  and  its  end  is  to  be  burned  as 
was  the  land  of  Sodom,  into  eternal  barrenness,  by  fire  from 
heaven ;  so  is  it  with  us ;  to  bear  fruit,  brings  blessing ;  to 
bear  the  thorns  and  thistles  of  apostasy,  brings  God's  curse. 

He  feels  sure,  however,  that  this  will  not  be  their  doom. 
Only,  let  them  continue  faithful.  God  remembers  their 
past  good  works,  and  will  note  those  of  times  to  come. 

9.  But,  beloved,  we  are  persuaded  better  things  of  you ; 
things  that  accompany  salvation,  though  we  thus  speak :  10. 
for  God  is  not  unrighteous,  that  He  should  forget  your  work, 
and  the  love  you  have  shown  toward  His  name,  in  your 
ministering  to  the  saints  as  you  have  done  and  still  do. 
11.  And  we  earnestly  trust  that  each  one  of  you  may  show 
the  same  zeal  which  leads  to  the  full  certainty  of  hope,  even 
to  the  end ;  12.  that  ye  be  not  slothful,  but  imitators  of  those 
who,  through  faith  and  patience,  already  inherit  the  promises. 

Enduring  faith  secures  the  inheritance  of  these  promises. 

13.  For,  to  give  you  a  proof  of  this,  when  God  made  the 
promise  to  Abraham,  He  sware  by  Himself,  since  He  could 
swear  by  no  greater,  14.  saying,  to  confirm  it.  Surely, 
blessing,  I  loill  bless  theej  and  multiplying  I  loill  multiply 
thee}  15.  And  in  this  way,  by  this  oath,  after  having 
patiently  endured,  he,  Abraham,  obtained  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise,  in  the  birth  of  Isaac. 

In  the  same  way,  the  certain  fulfilment  of  the  promises 

^  Gen.  xxiL  17. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE  HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  97 

in  Christ  was  confirmed  by  an  oath  of  God,  so  that  our 
confidence  may  be  absolute. 

IG.  For  men  in  their  promises,  swear  by  the  greater,  that 
is,  by  God ;  and  in  every  dispute  they  have,  the  oath  is  the 
end  of  it,  as  a  confirmation  of  its  being  arranged.  17.  So, 
conforming  Himself  to  human  ways,  God,  with  r.  view  to  sliow, 
in  a  sjiecial  manner,  to  the  heirs  of  the  Christian  promise,  the 
immutabihty  of  His  purpose,  intervened  with  an  oath  ;  18.  that 


Symbols  used  bj'  the  ancient  Christians  :  The  Fish,  from  the  letters  of  its  name 
in  Greek,  i^Ov^,  bein^  the  initials  of  'Irj^^ov?  Xpiard?  6eou  vids  Scorr/p— Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  God,  Saviour  ;  the  Lamb  ;  the  Dove  ;  and  the  Anchor. 


by  two  immutable  things,  the  promise  and  the  oath,  in  relation 
to  which  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  we  may  have  a  strong 
encouragement,  who  have  fled  for  refuge,  to  lay  hold  of  the 
hope  set  before  us,  as  even  now  laid  up  for  us  above;  19. 
which  we  have  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul — sure  and  steadfast 
as  an  anchor ;  a  hope  entering  into  that  Holy  of  Holies  which 
is  within  the  veil  of  the  temple  in  the  heavens,  the  counter- 
part of  the  Holy  of  Holies  on  Mount  Zion,  where  God  sits 
throned  on  the  mercy -seat.  20.  Whither,  as  a  forerunner, 
IV.  G 


98  ST.    PETER 

Jesus  entered  to  intercede  for  us,  as  the  high  priest  enterb 
that  of  the  temple  here,  having  become  a  high  priest  for  ever 
after  the  order  of  Melcliisedek. 

Explanation  of  the  High-Priesthood  of  Christ,  with  an 
introductory  statement  respecting  Melchisedek,  showing, 
from  Scripture,  his  greatness  as  high-priest,  and  pointing 
out  how,  in  three  ways,  he  stood  above  the  Levitical 
priests. 

yil.  1.  For  this  Melchisedek,  king  of  Salem,  priest  of  God, 
Most  High,  who  met  Abraham  when  he  was  returning  from 
the  slaughter  of  the  kings,  and  as  a  priest  blessed  him,  2.  to 
whom,  on  the  other  hand,  Abraham  also  divided  off  a  tenth 
part  of  all  the  spoil,  as  to  a  priest, — abideth  a  priest  for  ever, 
his  very  name  and  title  as  it  were  implying  this,  being,  as  to 
the  first,  by  interpretation,  "King  of  Righteousness,"  and 
then,  also,  as  to  the  second,  "  King  of  Salem,"  which  means, 
king  of  peace.  3.  His  abidimj  priesthood  is,  moreover,  shown, 
by  his  being,  as  it  were,  without  father,  without  mother, 
without  genealogy,  that  is,  priestly  successors — nothing  being 
said  on  these  points,  he  having,  moreover,  so  far  as  is  re- 
corded, neither  any  beginning  of  his  days,  nor  end  of  his  Hfe, 
so  that,  by  this  silence  of  Scripture,  he  becomes  a  fitting  type 
of  Christ,  as  thus  made,  as  it  were,  like  the  Son  of  God.' 

The  writer  enlarges  on  the  greatness  of  this  typical 
priest. 

^  As  neither  the  parentage  nor  the  place  of  birth  of  Melchisedek,  nor 
of  his  successors  in  his  priestly  office,  is  mentioned  in  Genesis,  he  is 
adopted  in  onr  Epistle  as  uniquely  resembling  our  Lord,  in  his  high- 
priesthood.  A  disclosure  in  the  cuneiform  tablets  found  at  Tel  Amarna, 
throws  light  on  the  whole  incident  in  Genesis.  Palestine  was  then  an 
Egyptian  province,  and  in  one  of  the  tablets  the  Egyptian  governor  of 
Jerusalem,  long  before  the  Exodus,  claims  to  have  been  appointed  to  his 
office  by  the  local  god,  through  an  oracle,  and  not  by  the  Pharaoh  or  any 
earthly  authority.  "  Salim  "  was  the  Chaldean  god  of  peace,  and  "  Jeru  " 
is  "  the  city  of."  See  the  whole  story,  in  Geikie's  "  Hours  with  the  Bible," 
new  edition,  i.  340  flf. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)  99 

4.  Now  consider  how  great  this  man  was,  to  whom  Abraham, 
the  patriarch  of  our  race,  gave  a  tenth  out  of  the  chief  spoils. 
5.  Mark  therefore  this  first  point.  They  indeed,  of  the  sons 
of  Levi  who  receive  the  priesthood,  have  commandment  to  tithe 
the  people,  according  to  the  law, — -that  is,  to  take  tithes  of 
their  brethren,  though  these  like  themselves  have  come  out 
of  the  loins  of  Abraham:  6.  but  he — an  alien — whose  gene- 
alogy is  not  derived  from  them,  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  who  is 
not  of  their  blood,  has  taken  tithes  of  Abraham,  and  has 
blessed  him  who  has  received  the  promises  from  the  very 
mouth  of  God,  Himself.  7.  But,  without  any  dispute,  the  less 
is  always  blessed  of  the  greater,  so  that  Melchisedek  was 
greater  than  even  Abraham.  8.  And,  further,  here,  in  the 
case  of  the  Levites,  men  tlmt  die  receive  tithes;  but  there, 
in  the  case  of  Melchisedek,  one  of  whom  it  is  witnessed  in 
Scripture,  only,  that  he  liveth,  no  mention  being  made  of  his 
dying,  while  the  psalm  speaks  of  his  order  being  for  ever,^ 
received  Abraham's  tithes.  9.  And  thus,  so  to  say,  through 
Abraham,  even  Levi,  who  receives  tithes,  has  paid  tithes;  10. 
for  he,  Levi,  was  yet  in  the  loins  of  his  forefather  Abraham, 
when  Melchisedek  met  him,  and  thus  Abraham's  tithes  were 
equivalent  to  the  tithing  of  his  posterity  also. 

But,  indeed,  the  Levitical  priesthood  has  now  lost  its 
importance,  in  common  with  the  Mosaic  law. 

11.  Now,  if  there  was  perfection — a  perfect  expiation, 
through  the  Levitical  priesthood — for  the  people  Israel  has 
received  the  law  under,  and  through,  the  ordained  services  of 
this  priesthood — what  further  need  was  there  that  anothei 
kind  of  priest  should  arise  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek,  and 
not  be  named  according  to  the  priestly  order  of  Aaron  ?  12. 
For  the  priesthood  being  thus  changed,  there  necessarily 
follows,  also,  a  change  of  the  law,  or  priestly  constitution, 
ministered  by  the  order  of  Levi.  13.  For  He  —Jesus— of  whom 
these  things  are  said  in  Scripture,  "  Thou  art  a  priest  for  ever 

1  Ps.  ex.  4. 


100  ST.   PETER 

after  the  order  of  Melchisedek,"  belonged  to  another  tribe 
than  Levi — a  tribe — Judah,  from  which  no  man  has  given 
priestly  attendance  at  the  altar.  14.  For  it  is  evident  that 
our  Lord  has  sprung  out  of  Judah  ;  as  to  which  tribe  Moses 
spoke  nothing  concerning  there  ever  being  priests. 

The  abrogation  of  the  Levitical  priesthood  and  the 
Mosaic  law  is  still  more  clearly  proved,  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  saying  that  the  new  Priest  is  to  be  like  Melchisedek, 
which  involves  characteristics  quite  different  from  those 
of  the  old  priesthood. 

15.  And  still  more  is  it  abundantly  clear  that  the  Mosaic 
law  is  changed  and  abrogated,  along  with  the  Levitical 
priesthood,  if  another  priest,  after  the  likeness  of  Melchisedek, 
rises,  16.  who  has  been  made  priest,  not  after  the  law  of  a 
fleshly  command,  limited  to  fleshly  descent,  but  after  the 
power  of  an  endless  life.  17.  But  that  this  is  found  in  Jesus 
is  proved  by  Scripture,  for  it  is  written  of  Him, — Thou  art  a 
priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchisedek. 

The  mighty  consequences  flowing  from  this. 

18.  For  there  is,  as  a  necessary  result  of  this,  a  cancelling 
of  the  foregoing  commandment  respecting  the  Levitical 
priesthood,  because  of  its  weakness  and  unprofitableness, 
19.  for  that  law  made  nothing  perfect^  —  and,  thus,  a 
bringing  in,  at  the  same  time,  of  a  better  hope,  through  which 
we  draw  nigh  unto  God ;  not  needing,  like  these  under  the 
old  law,  to  stand  far  off,  outside  the  Holy  of  Holies.  20.  And 
inasmuch  as  Christ  was  not  appointed  without  the  taking  of 
an  oath  by  God — 21.  for  they  indeed  whom  He  has  superseded 
have  been  appointed  priests  without  any  such  oath ;  but  He 
was  appointed  with  an  oath  by  Him,  God,  who  says  of  Him, — 
The  Lord  sware  and  will  not  change  His  mind, — Thou  art  a  priest 
for  ever  ;^ — 22.  by  so  much,  therefore,  has  Jesus  become  the 
1  Verse  11.  ^  pg.  ex.  4. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE   HEBREWS— (CONTINUED)       101 

surety  of  a  better  covenant,  than  the  Levitical  or  Mosaic. 
23.  And  further,  they,  indeed,  have  been  made  priests,  one 
after  the  other,  many  in  number,  because  by  death  they  are 
prevented  from  continuing  to  hold  their  ofB.ce :  24.  but  He, 
Jesus,  because  He  lives  for  ever,  holds  an  unchangeable 
deathless  priesthood.  25.  On  which  account  also,  He  is  able 
to  save  to  the  uttermost,  perfectly,  fully,  them  that  draw  near 
unto  God  through  Him,  seeing  He  ever  liveth  to  make  inter- 
cession for  them. 

26.  For  such  a  high  priest  became  us,  holy,  guileless,  un- 
defiled,  separated  from  sinners,  being  withdrawn  from  all 
defiling  contact  with  them,  by  passing  up  to  the  right  hand 
of  God,  and  being  thus  made  higher  than  the  visible  heavens ; 
for  God  dwells  in  the  highest  heavenly  regions  beyond  those 
we  see;  27.  a  high  priest  who  needs  not  daily,  like  those  high 
priests  of  the  sons  of  Levi,  to  offer  up  sacrifices,  first  for  His 
own  sins,  and  then  for  those  of  the  people :  for  this  He  did, 
once  for  all,  when  He  offered  up  Himself.  28.  For  the 
Levitical  law  appoints  77ien  high  priests,  who  hav^e  human 
fraility;  but  the  word  of  the  oath,  which  was  made  later 
than  the  law,  in  David  ^  appoints  a  Son,^  perfected,  as  high 
priest,  for  ever  more. 

Christ  is  far  above  the  Levitical  priesthood,  not  only 
in  His  Person,  but  also  in  the  glory  of  the  sanctuary  in 
which  He  acts  as  High-Priest. 

VIII.  1.  Now,  of  the  things  which  we  are  saying,  the  chief 
point,  the  pith,  is  this :  We  have  such  a  high  priest  as  has 
been  described,  who  has  sat  down  on  the  right  hand,  the  seat 
of  honour,  of  the  throne  of  the  Majesty  in  the  heavens,  2.  as 
a  priestly  ministrant  of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  true  taber- 
nacle, the  archetype  of  that  of  Israel,  which  God,  the  Lord, 
pitched,  not  man ;  the  divinely  conceived  original,  of  which 
that  of  earth  was  only  an  imperfect  copy. 

1  Ps.  ex.  4.  «  Heb.  iv.  14. 


102  ST.   PETER 

There  is  need  of  such  a  second  priestly  ministration, 
as  there  was  of  a  second  priesthood. 

3.  For,  since,  as  the  vital  feature  of  his  office,  every  high 
priest  is  appointed  in  order  to  offer  both  gifts  and  sacrifices, 
it  is  necessary  that  this  high  priest,  also,  have  somewhat  to 
offer.  4.  Now,  if  He,  Jesus,  were  on  earth,  He  would  not  be 
a  priest  at  all,  seeing  there  are  those  already  provided,  who 
offer  the  gifts  of  the  people — their  sacrifices  according  to  the 
law ;  5.  who  serve  the  temple,  which  is  a  copy  and  shadow 
of  the  heavenly  things, — the  true  tabernacle  and  its  mini- 
strations,— in  keeping  with  the  divine  directions  received  by 
Moses  when  he  was  about  to  make  the  tabernacle :  for,  See, 
saith  He,  God,^  tliat  thou  malce  all  things  according  to 
the  pattern  that  loas  showed  thee  in  the  mount:  that  pattern 
being  a  copy  of  the  true  tabernacle  in  the  heavens.  6.  But 
now,  in  contrast  to  all  this,  has  He,  Christ,  obtained  a 
ministry  as  much  more  excellent  than  that  of  the  Levitical 
priesthood,  as  the  covenant  of  which  He  is  mediator  is  better 
than  that  of  which  Moses  was  the  mediator ;  his  covenant 
— that  of  Jesus — being  one,  which  has  been  established  on 
better  promises. 

Proof  from  Scripture  that  the  New  Covenant  rests  on 
better  promises  than  the  Old,  and  is  thus  better. 

7.  For  if  that  first  covenant  had  been  faultless,  no  place 
would  have  been  sought  by  God  for  a  second.  But  the  proof 
that  the  first  covenant  was  not  faultless,  and  that  God  had 
published  His  purpose  to  make  a  new  one,  is  seen  in  Scripture, 
8.  for,  finding  fault  with  them — those  who  lived  under  the 
first  covenant,  He,  God,  says,  Behold,  the  days  come,  says  the 
Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel 
and  with  the  house  of  Judah  ;  9.  not  according  to  the  covenant 
that  I  made  with  their  fathers,  in  the  day  that  I  took  them  hy 
the  handy  to  lead  them  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.     For 

^  Exod.  XXV,  40. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBEEWS — (CONTINUED)       103 

they  cnntinup.d  not  in  Mij  covenant,  and  I  regarded  them  not, 
says  the  Lord.  10.  For  this  is  the  covenant  that  I  will  make 
iviih  the  house  of  Israel  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord  ;  I  will 
p7it  My  laics  into  their  mind,  and  on  their  heart  also  will  I 
ivrite  them:  and  I  will  he  to  them  a  God,  and  they  shall  he  to 
Me  a  people.  11.  And  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  fellow- 
citizen,  and  every  man  his  hrother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord ;  for 
all  shall  knoio  Me,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest  of  them.  12. 
For  I  will  he  mercifid  to  their  iniquities,  and  their  sins  will  I 
remember  no  more.^  13.  Inasmuch  as  He,  God,  here  says,  A 
new  covenant.  He  has  made  the  first  old.  But  that  which  is 
becoming  old  and  is  wearing  out,  is  nigh  to  vanishing  away. 


The  Levitical  priests  were  mortal,  but  Christ  lives  for 
ever ;  their  sanctuary  was  on  earth,  that  in  which  Christ 
is  High-Priest  is  in  the  heavens ;  and  hence  the  Covenant 
of  which  He  is  Mediator  must  be  correspondingly  better 
than  that  of  Moses.  Indeed,  in  the  characteristics  of  the 
old  Tabernacle  and  of  the  Temple,  signs  were  not  wanting, 
that  neither  represented  a  perfect  religion,  but  only  one 
which  was  a  preparation  for  a  higher.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment sanctuary  is  first  sketched,  in  the  main  features  of 
its  arrangements. 

IX.  1.  Now  also,  the  first  covenant,  as  we  know,  had 
ordinances  of  divine  service,  and  its  sanctuary,  that  which 
was  in  this  world ;  not,  like  that  of  Christ,  in  the  heavens. 
2.  For  there  was  a  tabernacle  prepared  by  Moses  at  the 
command  of  God,  in  two  parts ;  the  first,  in  which  were  the 
candlestick,  and  the  table,  and  the  setting  forth  of  the  shew- 
bread  on  it ;  which  part  is  called  the  Holy  Place.  3.  And 
behind  the  second  veil,  is  the  tabernacle  which  is  called  the 
Holy  of  Holies  :  4.  containing  a  Golden  Altar  of  incense,  and 

^  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34. 


104  ST.   PETER 

the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  overlaid,  round  about,  with  gold, 
in  which  was  a  golden  pot  holding  the  manna,  and  Aaron's, 
rod  that  budded,  and  the  stone  tables  of  the  covenant; 
5.  and,  over  it,  cherubim  of  glory  overshadowing  the  mercy- 
seat;  of  which  things  we  cannot  now  speak  in  detail. ^ 

1  Exod.  XXV.  31-39  ;  xxxvii.  17-24  ;  xvi.  33 ;  xxv.  10  ff.,  23-30  ;  xxvi. 
35;  xxxvii.  10-16;  xxx.  1-10;  xxxvii.  25-28;  xxv.  18  ff. ;  xxxvii.  7  ff. 
In  the  Temple  of  Herod  there  were  ten  "  candlesticks  "  {Bell.  Jud.  v.  5, 5  ; 
vii.  5,  5),  as  in  that  of  Solomon  (1  Kings  vii.  49) ;  but  in  the  Tabernacle  and 
second  Temple,  only  one  (Zech,  iv.  2).  Of  a  golden  censer,  as  the  word  I  have 
rendered  "  altar  "  is  translated  by  some,  specially  devoted  to  the  service 
of  the  great  day  of  Atonement,  there  is  no  mention  in  the  Old  Testament, 
for  the  censer  mentioned  in  a  verse  of  Leviticus  (Lev.  xvi.  12)  was  taken 
from  the  altar  outside.  There  is  no  trace  of  the  existence  of  one  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies  in  the  Tabernacle,  as  our  text  presupposes.  It  first  appears 
in  a  tract  of  the  Mischna  (Joma  iv.  4).  This  censer,  we  are  there  told, 
was  kept,  not  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  but  in  the  storehouse  of  sacred 
vessels,  and  taken  out  and  carried  into  the  Most  Holy  Place  by  the  high- 
priest,  and  then,  after  being  used  there,  on  the  one  annual  occasion,  taken 
back  to  the  storehouse  again.  But  if  the  word  be  translated  "golden 
altar-of -incense,"  the  difficulty  rises  that  this  stood  in  the  Holy  Place,  not 
in  the  Most  Holy,  as  our  text  states  (Exod.  xxx.  1  ff.).  The  writer  of  our 
Epistle,  living  at  a  distance  from  Jerusalem,  and  gaining  his  knowledge 
of  the  arrangements  of  the  Tabernacle  from  study  of  the  Old  Testament, 
appears  to  have  been  misled  in  this  petty  detail,  from  the  table  and  the 
candlesticks,  only,  having  been  mentioned  as  the  equipments  of  the  Holy 
Place,  in  Exod.  xxvi.  35,  so  that  the  position  of  the  incense  altar  was  left 
indeterminate,  and  was  hence  assigned,  in  our  Epistle,  to  the  Holy  of 
Holies.  In  the  Mosaic  economy,  the  incense  altar  was  of  special  import- 
ance on  the  day  of  Atonement,  since  it  was  on  that  day  sprinkled  with 
the  blood  which  the  high-priest  had  carried  into  the  Holy  of  Holies 
(Exod.  xxx.  10 ;  Lev.  xvi.  18  ff.).  The  Ark  was  found  also  in  Solomon's 
Temple,  but  it  was  lost  when  that  sanctuary  was  destroyed  by  the 
Chaldeans,  and  thus  the  second  Temple  was  without  it  (1  Kings  viii.  4 ; 
Jos.  Bdl.  Jud.  V.  5,  5).  As  to  the  pot  of  manna,  the  rod  of  Aaron,  and 
the  tables  of  the  law  (Exod.  xvi.  32-34  ;  Num.  xvii.  10 ;  Exod.  xxv.  16 ; 
Deut.  X.  5),  the  first  two  are  said,  in  the  sacred  texts  quoted,  to  have 
been  laid  up  before  the  Ark,  not  in  it,  while  the  tables  of  the  law  are  said 
in  these  texts  to  have  been  put  into  the  Ark,  but  in  others  to  have  been 
set  "before  the  Lord."  That  they  were  put  into  the  Ark  became  the 
belief  of  the  later  rabbis.  Respecting  the  cherubim,  see  Geikie's  "  Hours 
with  the  Bible,"  new  edition,  vol.  iii.  p.  457. 


THE    EPISTLE   TO   THE    HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       105 

The  typical  significance  of  the  two  parts  of  the 
Tabernacle. 

6.  Now,  these  things  having  been  thus  prepared,  the  priests 
go  into  the  first  division  of  the  tabernacle  continually,  per- 
forming the  services  appointed  by  God ;  7.  but  into  the  second 
portion  the  high  priest  alone  enters,  once  in  the  year,  not 
without  blood,  1  of  the  bullock  just  slain  as  a  sin-offering, 
which  he  offers  for  himself,  and  for  the  errors  of  the  people — 
that  is,  for  their  offences  of  ignorance  or  their  sudden,  unpre- 
meditated offences  :  "^  8.  by  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teaches, 
that  the  way  into  the  true  Holy  Place,  the  Holy  of  Holies 
where  God  is  throned  in  the  heavens,  not  on  earth,  is  not  yet 
opened  as  long  as  the  first,  or  outer  half,  of  the  tabernacle  is 
still  standing :  that  is — the  Holy  of  Holies  being  entered  only 
once  a  year,  and  that  by  no  one  but  the  high  priest;  the 
ordinary  priesthood  not  passing  beyond  the  outer  part — the 
Holy  Place — in  their  daily  service ;  this  outer  half,  thus,  as 
it  were,  shutting  off  and  closing  from  them,  the  inner  Holy 
of  Holies  — God  would  teach  us  by  this,  that  as  long  as  the 
Levitical  priesthood  or  the  Mosaic  law  continued,  there  was 
no  open  approach  to  the  direct  presence  of  God,  and  that, 
therefore,  to  bring  about  such  full  and  immediate  access  to 
God,  for  all  men,  the  Old  Testament  covenant  must  be  done 
away,  and  a  nobler  and  more  perfect  one  introduced  by 
Christ.     9.  Which  is  an  emblem  of  the  state  of  things  at  the 

^  Lev.  xvi.  14. 

-  Those  who  sinned  deliberately  were  to  be  cut  off  from  the  congrega- 
tion (Exod.  xii.  15,  &c.  &c.  &c.).  Those,  only,  who  sinned  unwittingly,  or, 
as  it  were,  unwillingly,  could  have  atonement  made  for  them,  since,  as  our 
Epistle  presently  says,  "It  was  impossible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and 
goats  should  take  away  sins"  (Heb.  ix.  7  ;  x.  4),  The  word  translated  in 
our  text  "  errors,"  is  opposed  to  deliberate  sins  in  the  text  just  quoted. 
The  former  word  {ayvdrjfia)  occurs  only  once  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
is  used  in  the  Greek  Bible,  in  Genesis  xliii.  12,  for  a  Hebrew  word  which 
also  occurs  only  once  in  the  sacred  text  (njK^CY  and  is  rendered  "over- 
sight" in  the  Authorised  and  Revised  Versions.  The  second  word 
{a/xdpTia)  is  the  ordinary  word  for  sin. 


106  ST    PETER 

present  time  ;  according  to  which  are  offered  outside  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  and  thus  in  striking  contrast  to  the  immeasurahly 
nobler  ministration  of  Christ,  in  heaven,  immediately  before 
God,  both  gifts  and  sacrifices  that  cannot,  as  the  conscience 
testifies,  make  the  worshipper  perfect,  10.  being  only, — inchid- 
ing  their  meats  and  drinks,  and  various  washings,  to  go  no 
farther, — ordinances  of  the  flesh  imposed  by  God  until  a  time 
of  making  a  reformation,  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  and 
better  dispensation  by  Christ. 

What  the  Mosaic  law  could  not  give  is  secured  us  by 
Christ. 

11.  But  Christ,  having  come  as  a  high  priest  of  the  good 
things  yet  future,  in  the  world  of  light— passing  up  through 
the  greater  and  more  perfect  tabernacle  of  the  visible  heavens, 
which  are,  as  it  were,  the  outer  part  of  the  true  heavenly 
tabernacle,  beyond  even  this,  its  outer  court,  and  are  not 
made  with  hands,  that  is  to  say,  not  of  this  lower  creation,  12. 
entered,  not  like  the  high  priest  of  earth,  by  virtue  of  the 
blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but  by  virtue  of  His  own  blood,  once 
for  all,  into  the  Holy  Place  above — the  true  Holy  of  Holies, 
before  God  Himself,  having  obtained  eternal  redemption. 

His  redemption  is,  indeed,  eternal. 

13.  For  if  the  blood  of  goats  and  bulls,  and  the  ashes  of  a 
heifer  sprinkling  those  who  have  been  defiled,  sanctify  so  far 
as  concerns  the  cleanness  of  the  flesh  :  14.  how  much  more 
shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who,  through  the  Eternal  Spirit, 
offered  himself  a  lamb  without  blemish,  to  God,  cleanse,  not 
your  flesh  only,  but  also  your  conscience,  from  slavery  to  dead 
works  of  the  Jewish  law,  turning  you,  instead,  to  serve  the 
living  God. 

To  become  the  Mediator  of  this  New  Covenant  Christ 
must  suffer  death.     The  blood  of  beasts  sufficed  to  conse- 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       10*7 

crate  the  earthly  sanctuary,  but  a  nobler  offering  was 
demanded  for  the  consecration  of  the  heavenly  one,  and 
this  Christ  has  made,  once  for  all ;  at  this,  the  end  of  the 
world,  by  His  sin-destroying  death. 

15.  And  for  this  reason  is  it  that  He  is  the  mediator  of  a 
new  covenant — that  a  death — His  own — having  taken  place, 
for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  that  were  committed 
under  the  first  covenant,  they  who  have  been  called  to  it  by 
God,  may  receive  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  of  the  eternal 
inheritance. 

How  this  has  such  a  result,  and  the  necessity  that 
Christ  should  die,  to  secure  it. 

16.  For  where  there  is  a  covenant,  or,  rather,  testament, 
the  death  of  him  that  made  it  must  of  necessity  be  shown. 

17.  For  a  testimony  is  of  force  only  when  it  is  that  of  the 
dead  :  for  is  it  ever  of  force  while  he  who  made  it  still  lives  1 

18.  Hence,  even  the  first — the  Old  Testament  covenant,  has 
not  been  initiated   and  made   sacredly  valid  without  blood. 

19.  For  after  every  commandment  had  been  spoken  by 
Moses  to  all  the  people,  according  to  the  law,  he  took  the 
blood  of  the  calves  and  the  goats,  with  water  and  scarlet  wool 
and  hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  of  the  law  itself, 
and  all  the  people,  20.  saying.  This  is  the  blood  of  the 
covenant  which  God  has  enjoined  upon  you.  21.  Still 
more,  at  a  later  time,  when  they  were  made,  he  sprinkled 
the  tabernacle  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry  in  it, 
in  the  same  wa}-,  with  blood.  22.  And,  indeed,  according  to 
the  law,  I  may  almost  say  that  all  things  are  cleansed  with 
blood,  and  that,  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  re- 
mission of  sins. 

But  if  the  earthly  sanctuary  needed  thus  to  be  con?e- 
crated  and  made  eflective  for  its  end,  by  such  means,  the 


108  ST.    PETER 

heavenly  sanctuary  must  have  needed  a  far  nobler  offer- 
ing and  nobler  blood.  This,  Christ  has,  once  for  all,  pre- 
sented before  God,  by  His  sin-destroying  sacrificial  death, 
and  so  complete  is  its  efficacy,  that  those  who  wait  for 
Him  as  heirs  of  salvation,  at  His  return,  will  need  no 
other  offering  to  obtain  it, 

23.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  by  the  Mosaic  law,  that 
the  Jewish  copies  of  the  "  vessels  of  the  service  "  in  the  true 
tabernacle, — the  things  in  the  heavens, — should  be  cleansed 
by  these  sprinklings  of  the  blood  of  beasts  ;  but  the  heavenly 
things  themselves — the  realities  of  these  copies,  with  better 
sacrifices  than  these.  24.  For  Christ,  as  high  priest,  entered 
not  into  a  Holy  of  HoHes  made  with  hands,  the  copy  of  the 
true  one  above ;  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  before 
the  very  face  of  God  for  us  :  25.  nor  has  He  done  so  to  come 
out  again  presently,  like  the  high  priest  on  earth — that  He 
should  offer  Himself  often  on  the  Cross,  and  return  again,  to 
present  this  fresh  outpouring  of  His  blood — as  the  high  priest 
does,  who  enters  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  year  by  year,  with 
blood  not  his  own :  26.  for,  otherwise,  He,  Jesus,  must  have 
suffered  often  since  the  creation  of  the  world :  but  now,  once, 
at  the  close  of  the  ages  of  the  world,  He  has  been  manifested 
to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 

The  New  Covenant  thus  ratified  by  the  death  of  Christ 
has  removed  all  the  imperfections  of  the  Old  one,  and  no 
other  is  ever  to  be  expected. 

27.  And  in  the  same  way  as  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once 
to  die,  and  after  this  there  is  no  repetition  of  dying,  but  only 
the  judgment ;  28.  so  Christ  also,  having  been  once  offered  to 
bear  the  sins  of  many,  will  not  die  any  more,  but  shall  appear 
a  second  time,  without  anything  to  do  with  sin  which  has 
been  blotted  out,  as  respects  His  people,  by  His  death — to 
them  that  wait  for  His  coming,  to  save  them. 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBEEWS — (CONTINUED)       109 

As  tlie  constantly  repeated  atonements,  under  the 
Levitical  Law,  were  powerless  to  save ;  the  one  all- 
sufficient  atonement  by  Christ  was  necessary. 

X.  1.  For  the  law,  having  only  a  shadow  of  the  good  things 
to  come,  not  the  very  image  or  reality  of  them,  casting 
this  shadow,  they  who  are  its  priests  can  never,  by  the  same 
sacrifices  which  they  offer  year  by  year,  in  perpetuity,  make 
them  perfect  who  draw  nigh  the  altar,  to  present  sacrifices 
for  themselves,  as  priests,  and  for  the  worshippers.  2.  For  if 
they  had  done  so,  would  they  not  have  ceased  to  be  offered, 
because  the  worshippers  once  really  cleansed,  would  have  had 
no  more  self-accusation  of  sins  ?  3.  But  in  these  sacrifices 
there  is,  year  by  year,  a  recalling  to  mind  of  sins  committed 
in  each  year.  4.  For  it  is  impossible  that  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  goats  should  take  away  deliberate  sins. 

Proof  from  Scripture  of  the  worthlessness  of  such  gross 
agencies  to  take  sin  away,  and  proof  that  this  is  secured, 
not  by  the  blood  of  beasts,  but  by  Christ  having  fulfilled 
the  will  of  God  by  His  atoning  death.  Christians  have 
peace  and  pardon  only  because  of  this. 

5.  In  harmony  with  this  fact,  when  He,  Christ,  comes  into 
the  world  at  His  incarnation,  He  says,  speaking  through  the 
singer  of  one  of  the  psalms,^  Sacrifice  and  offering  Thou 
ivouldst  not,  but  a  body  didst  Thou  prepare  for  Me;  6.  in 
whole  burnt-off'erings  and  sin-offerings  Thou  hadst  no  pleasure  : 
7.  then  said  /,  Lo,  I  am  come:  (In  the  roll  of  the  book  it 
is  written  of  me)— to  do  Thy  will,  0  God. 

In  these  quotations,  that  on  which  God  sets  no  value 
is  represented  by  Judaism;  that  which  He  honours,  by 
Christianity. 

'  Ps.  xl.  7,  8  J  1.8-14;  li.  16,  17. 


110  ST.    PETER 

8.  After  His  saying,  in  the  beginning  of  these  verses, 
Sacrifices  and  offerings  and  ivliole  hurnt- offerings  and  sin- 
offerings  Tlion  luouldst  not,  neillier  liadst  pleasure  in  them  — 
which  still  are  all  offered,  in  obedience  to  the  law ;  9.  He 
then  goes  on  to  say,  Lo,  I  am  come  to  do  Thy  loill,  and 
thus  He,  God,  does  away  with  the  first,  that  He  may  establish 
the  second.  10.  By  which  fulfilling  of  His  will  by  the  work 
of  Christ,  we  have  been  sanctified,  through  the  offering  of  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ,  once  for  all. 

Eepetition  of  the  essential  difference  between  the  Jewish 
high-priest  and  Christ. 

11.  And,  indeed,  as  we  have  said,  every  priest  stands, 
day  by  day  in  the  temple,  ministering,  and  offering,  often- 
times, the  same  sacrifices  ;  sacrifices  which  can  never  take 
away  sins:  12.  but  He,  Christ,  when  He  had  offered  one 
sacrifice  for  sins,  the  atoning  worth  of  which  lasts  for  ever, — 
the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  on  the  Cross, — sat  down  on  the  right 
hand  of  God  ;  13.  waiting,  from  His  doing  so,  till  His  enemies 
be  made  His  footstool.  14.  For  by  the  one  offering  of  His 
own  blood,  He  has  perfected  for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified. 

Scripture,  further,  proves  that  no  more  sacrifice  for  sin 
is  needed. 

15.  And  the  Holy  Ghost,  also,  witnesses  to  us  to  this 
effect:  for  after  He,  God,  has  said,  16.  This  is  the  covenant 
that  I  ivill  make  with  them  after  those  dags,  saifh  the  Lord 
God ;  /  will  put  My  laws  on  their  heart,  as  on  fleshly  tablets, 
instead  of  the  stone  tablets  of  Moses,  and  upon  their  mind 
also  will  I  write  them.  Then  he  adds,  17.  And  their  sins  and 
their  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  tnore.^  18.  Now  where  re- 
mission or  pardon  of  these  our  sins  is,  there  is  no  more  need  of 

offering  for  sin. 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34. 


THE  EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       111 

Having  such  a  glorious  High-Priest,  and  all  the  blessed- 
ness He  has  procured  for  His  people,  they  ought  to  hold 
fast  and  unwaveringly  to  their  faith,  stirring  each  other 
up  at  the  thought  of  it,  to  love  and  good  works,  and  not, 
as  had  come  to  be  the  way  with  some,  forsaking  the 
meetings  of  their  brethren  for  worship;  and  this  the 
more,  as  the  Coming  of  Christ  is  at  hand. 

19.  Since  then,  brethren,  we  have  ground  for  assured  con- 
fidence as  to  entering  into  the  holy  place,  above — the  very 
presence-cliamber  of  God,  through — on  the  ground  of — the 
blood  of  Jesus  now  offered  by  Him  there, — 20.  by  the  way  lead- 
ing up  to  it,  which  He  has  consecrated  for  us,  that  is,  on  our 
behalf — a  new,  hitherto  non-existent,  and  living  way,  leading, 
as  it  does,  to  eternal  life ;  a  way  through  the  veil,  that  is  to 
say.  His  flesh  ;  21.  and  having  a  great  high  priest  over  the 
house  of  God,  the  tabernacle  in  the  heavens;  22.  let  us 
draw  near  with  a  true  heart,  in  fulness  of  faith,  having  our 
hearts  sprinkled  by  the  merits  of  Christ's  atonement,  from 
the  weight  of  an  accusing  conscience,  and  our  bodies  washed 
with  the  pure  water  of  Christian  baptism,  as  theirs  were  with 
water,  who  entered  the  earthly  tabernacle :  ^  23.  let  us 
further  hold  fast  the  confession  of  the  hope  we  enjoy,  without 
letting  it  waver;  for  He,  God,  is  faithful  that  promised: 
24.  and  let  us  keep  our  eye  on  each  other,  to  incite  them 
and  ourselves,  to  love  and  good  works;  25.  not  forsaking 
our  Christian  assemblings,  as  is  the  custom  of  some;  but 
encouraging  one  another  to  attend  them ;  and  that  so  much 
the  more,  as  ye  see,  in  the  troubles  of  Judsea,  heralding  the 
terrors  of  Roman  vengeance — the  day  of  Christ's  Coming 
drawing  nigh.^ 

To  forsake  the  Christian  assemblings  revealed  a  luke- 
warmness    which   might    very    easily    lead    to  ultimate 

^  Exod.  xxix.  4  ;  xl.  12;  Lev.  viii.  6.  '^  Matt.  xxiv. 


11?  ST.   PETER 

apostasy.  Those  who  do  so  are  therefore  warned  that 
any  one  deliberately  contemning  and  sinning  against  the 
known  Christian  "confession,"  must  inevitably  expose 
himself  to  the  punitive  judgment  of  God. 

26.  For  if  we  sin  wilfully  after  we  have  received  the  know- 
ledge of  the  truth, — rejecting  Christianity, — there  remains  no 
more  a  sacrifice  for  sins, — for  Christ,  whom  ye  have  thus  re- 
jected, was  offered  once,  for  all  time,  27.  but  only  a  certain 
and  fearful  prospect  of  judgment,  and  a  divine  indignation 
of  flaming  fire  which  shall  devour  the  adversaries. ^  28.  Of 
this  indeed,  you  may  be  sure,  for  He  who  has  set  at  nought 
Moses'  law  dies  without  pity,  on  the  testimony  of  two  or 
three  witnesses :  29.  and  of  how  much  sorer  punishment, 
think  ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  at  Christ's  coming, 
who  has,  as  it  were,  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of  God, 
and  has  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  by  which  he 
was  sanctified,  an  unholy  common  thing,  and  has  done 
despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace  ?  30.  For  we  know  Him  who 
has  said.  Vengeance  helongeth  unto  Me,  I  ivill  recompense, 
and,  again.  The  Lord  shall  judge  His  people.^  31.  It  is 
a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God  ! 

Mindful  of  their  former  enthusiasm  for  Christianity, 
they  must  not  give  way  to  unworthy  faintheartedness,  but 
rather  cling  fondly  to  their  confession,  for  Christ  would 
soon  return,  bringing  with  Him  the  entrance  on  the 
promised  inheritance  of  eternal  bliss. 

32.  But  call  to  remembrance  the  former  days,  in  which, 
after  ye  were  enlightened,  owning  Christ  as  your  Saviour,  and 

1  2  Thess.  i.  7,  8. 

2  Deut.  xxxii.  35,  36  ;  Ps.  cxxxv.  14.  The  first  quotation  agrees  neither 
with  the  Hebrew  nor  with  the  Greek  Bible,  but  is  closely  like  the  words  of 
Paul  in  Rom.  xii.  19.  Possibly  both  may  have  used  the  form  of  a  proverb 
drawn  from  these  texts. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       113 

casting  in  your  lot  with  those  who  confessed  His  name,  ye  en- 
dured a  great  struggle  with  trials;  33.  on  the  one  hand,  being 
made  a  gazing-stock,  both  by  reproaches  for  being  Christians, 
and  by  overt  sufferings  in  body  or  goods ;  and,  on  the  other, 
being  partakers,  by  your  sympathy,  with  them  that  were  so 
used.  34.  For  ye  both  afforded  sympathising  help  to  them 
that  were  in  bonds,  and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  your  own 
possessions ;  knowing  that  ye  yourselves  have  in  heaven  a 
better  possession  and  an  abiding  one.  35.  Cast  not  away, 
therefore,  your  confidence,  which  has  such  great  recompence 
of  reward.  36.  For  ye  have  need  of  patient  endurance,  that, 
having  fulfilled  the  will  of  God,  ye  may  receive  the  promise. 
37.  For  the  words  will  soon  be  fulfilled,  yet  a  very  little 
lohile,  He  that  cometh  shall  come,  and  shall  not  tarry.  38.  But 
My  righteous  one  shall  live  by  faith:  and  if  he  draw  hack,  My 
soul  has  no  pleasure  in  him}  39.  But  we  are  not  of  them 
that  draw  back  unto  perdition ;  but  of  them  that  have  faith, 
to  the  saving  of  the  soul. 

This  "  faith,"  which  is  thus  the  very  essence  of  reli- 
gion, is  now  defined,  and  then  illustrated  by  a  series  of 
examples. 

XI.  1.  Now  faith  is  the  assurance  as  to  what  we  hope  for; 
the  firm  conviction  as  to  things  not  seen.      2.  For  it  was  by 

^  This  quotation  is  from  the  Greek  version  of  Habakkuk  ii.  3,  4,  but 
it  is  a  very  free  one.  The  Septuagint  reads,  "  For  the  vision  is  yet  for 
a  time,  and  it  shall  shoot  forth  in  the  end,  and  not  in  vain  :  though 
He  should  tarry,  wait  for  Him ;  for  He  will  surely  come,  and  will  not 
tarry.  If  he  should  draw  back,  my  soul  has  no  pleasure  in  him ;  but 
the  just  shall  live  by  My  faith."  The  Hebrew  of  the  same  verses  in 
the  Revised  Version  is  as  follows :  "  For  the  vision  is  yet  for  the 
appointed  time,  and  it  hasteth  towards  the  end,  and  shall  not  lie  :  though 
it  tarry,  wait  for  it  ;  because  it  will  surely  come,  it  will  not  delay. 
Behold  his  soul  is  puffed  up,  it  is  not  upright  in  him  :  bnt  the  just  shall 
five  by  His  faith." 

IV.  H 


114  ST.    PETER 

having  such  faith  that  the  elders,  your  ancestors,  had  good 
witness  borne  to  them  in  Scripture.  3.  By  faith,  we  under- 
stand that  the  woilds  have  been  framed  by  the  word  of  God, 
so  that  what  is  seen  has  not  been  made  out  of  things  that 
appear;  God  thus  hiding  His  purposes  from  man,  and  de- 
manding faith  even  here.  4.  Through  his  faith  Abel  offered 
to  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,  on  account  of  which 
he  had  witness  borne  him  that  he  was  righteous,  God  Himself 
bearing  witness  to  this,  in  His  gifts  being  accepted :  and  on 
account  of  it,  his  faith,  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaks.  5.  On 
account  of  his  faith,  Enoch  was  translated,  that  he  should  not 
see  death ;  and  lie  was  not  found,  hecmise  God  translated 
him  :^  for  before  his  translation  he  had  witness  borne  to  him 
in  Scripture,  while  he  was  still  alive,  that  he  had  been  well 
pleasing  to  God.^  6.  And  his  faith  is  thus  shown,  since 
without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  be  well  pleasing  to  Him ;  for 
he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  He  is,  and  that  He  is 
a  rewarder  of  them  that  seek  after  Him.  7.  Through  faith, 
Noah,  being  warned  of  God  concerning  things  not  yet  seen, 
moved  with  godly  fear,  prepared  an  ark  for  the  saving  of  his 
household  ;  by  which  act  he  condemned  the  unbelieving  world, 
by  the  contrast  of  his  faith  to  their  unbelief,  and  became  heir 
of  the  righteousness  which  is  accorded  to  faith.  8,  Through 
faith,  Abraham  obeyed,  when  he  was  called  by  God  to  go  out 
to  a  place  which  he  was  to  receive  for  an  inheritance ;  and  he 
went  out,  without  knowing  whither  he  was  going.  9.  Through 
faith  he  lived  as  only  a  sojourner  in  the  land  of  promise,  as  in 
a  land  not  his  own,  dwelling  in  tents,  with  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
the  heirs,  with  him,  of  the  same  promise  :  10.  for  he  looked 
for  the  city  which  has  the  strong,  eternal  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God.  11.  Through  faith,  also,  Sarah, 
herself,  received  power  to  conceive  seed  when  she  was  past 
age,  because  she  counted  Him  faithful  who  had  promised  : 
12.  and  hence,  also,  there  sprang  from  one,  Abraham,  and 
that  when  he  was  as  good  as  dead,  so  many  as  the  stars 

1  Gen.  V.  24.  ^  Qen.  v.  24. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBRKWS — (CONTINUED)       115 

of  heaven  in  multitude,  and  as  the  sand  on  the  sea-shore, 
innumerable. 

13.  All  these,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  died  true  to 
their  faith,  not  having  received  fulfilment  of  the  promises,  but 
having  seen  and  greeted  them  from  afar^  and  having  confessed 
that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  14.  For 
they  that  say  such  things  make  it  clear  that  they  are  seeking 
after  a  fatherland  of  their  own.  15.  And  if,  indeed,  they  had 
been  mindful  of  that  country  from  which  they  went  out,  they 
would  have  had  opportunity  to  return  to  it.  16.  But  now, 
acting  as  they  did.  they  show  that  they  desire  a  better 
country,  that  is,  a  heavenly :  for  which  reason  God  is  not 
ashamed  of  them,  to  be  called  their  God :  for  He  has  prepared 
for  them  a  city. 

17.  Through  faith,  Abraham,  being  tried  by  God,  offered 
up  Isaac :  yea,  he  who  had  gladly  received  the  promises  was 
about  offering  his  only  begotten  son;  18.  even  he,  indeed, 
was  about  doing  so  to  whom  it  was  said  ^ — In  Isaac  shall 
thij  seed  he  called:  19.  accounting  that  God  is  able  to  raise 
him  up,  even  from  the  dead ;  for  which  reason  he,  also,  in  a 
manner,  received  him  back,  from  the  dead.  20.  Through  faith, 
Isaac  blessed  Jacob  and  Esau,^  respecting  things  still  future. 
21.  Through  faith,  Jacob,  when  he  was  a  dying,  blessed  each 
of  the  sons  of  Joseph ;  and  worshipped,  leaning  on  the  top  of 
his  staff. ^    22.  Through  faith,  Joseph,  when  his  end  was  nigh, 

^  Gen.  xxL  12.  -  Gen.  xxvii.  27  ff. 

3  In  the  Hebrew  text,  Jacob  "bowed  himself  upon  the  bed's  head" 
(Gen.  xlvii.  31).  Here,  in  the  Epistle,  the  Septnagint  Version  is  given, 
by  the  change  of  vuttah,  a  bed,  into  matta?:,  a  staff ;  a  variation  easy 
in  Hebrew,  from  the  want  of  any  vowels  in  the  manuscripts.  But  the 
Hebrew  seems  clearly  the  right  version,  for  the  patriarch  had  "strengthened 
himself,  and  sat  upright  on  his  bed  "  (Gen.  xlviii.  2),  and  could  thus 
readily  bow  down  towards  the  lower  end  of  it,  in  worship,  as  we  are  told 
David  did  (1  Kings  i.  47).  The  staff  has  been  fancied  to  have  been  that 
which  he,  like  all  sheiks,  carried,  as  the  sign  of  his  rank,  or  as  his 
shepherd's  staff ;  but  this  is  only,  of  course,  supposition,  nor  is  it  easy  to 
think  how  the  sinking  old  man  could  turn  and  support  himself  on  it,  since 
he  needed  both  his  hands  for  the  blessings  he  was  about  to  give,  or  for 


116  ST.    PETER 

made  mention  of  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  from 
Egypt ;  and  gave  commandment  concerning  his  bones.^  23. 
Through  faith,  Moses,  when  he  was  born,  was  hidden  three 
months  by  his  parents,  because  they  saw  he  was  a  goodly 
child ;  and  they  were  not  afraid  of  the  king's  commandment. 
24.  Through  faith,  Moses,  when  he  was  grown  up,  refused  to 
be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter ;  25.  choosing  rather 
to  suffer  ill-treatment  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ;  26.  accounting  the  reproach 
of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt :  for  he 
kept  his  eye  steadfastly  on  the  recompence  of  the  reward 
hereafter.  27.  Through  faith  he  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing 
the  wrath  of  the  king ;  for  he  endured,  as  seeing  Him  who 
is  invisible.  28.  Through  faith  he  instituted  the  Passover,  and 
the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  that  the  destroyer  of  the  first-born 
should  not  touch  them.  29.  Through  faith,  they,  the  Israelites, 
passed  through  the  Ped  Sea  as  over  dry  land  :  which  the 
Egyptians  assaying  to  do,  were  swallowed  up.  30.  Through 
faith,  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  had  been  com- 
passed about  for  seven  days.  31.  Through  faith,  Rahab  the 
harlot  perished  not  with  them  that  were  disobedient,  having 
received  the  spies  with  peace.  32.  And  what  shall  I  more  say? 
for  the  time  will  fail  me  if  I  tell  of  Gideon,  Barak,  Samson, 
Jephthah  ;  of  David,  and  Samuel,  and  the  prophets :  33.  who 
through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  ob- 
tained promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  34.  quenched 
the  power  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  from  weak- 
ness were  made  strong,  waxed  mighty  in  war,  turned  to  flight 
armies  of  aliens.  35.  Women  received  back  their  dead  raised 
to  life  again :  and  others  let  themselves  be  tortured,  as  by 

the  purpose  of  prayer.  Bowing  on  his  couch,  moreover,  was  much  more  in 
keeping  with  Hebrew  usage.  The  idea  that  he  worshipped  an  image 
carved  on  the  head  of  the  staff,  is  surely  extravagant  in  the  case  of  one 
who  buried  even  the  earrings  worn  as  amulets  among  the  women  of  his 
tribe,  to  prevent  idolatry  in  any  shape  (Gen.  xxxv.  4).  Philological 
reasons,  indeed,  show  that  the  Septuagint  reading  is  an  error. 
1  Gen.  1.  25. 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       117 

burning,  impaling,  or  being  hewn  in  pieces,  not  accepting 
deliverance,  that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection : 
36.  and  others  had  the  trial  of  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea, 
moreover,  of  bonds  and  imprisonment :  37.  they  were  stoned, 
they  were  sawn  asunder,  they  were  tempted  to  deny  the  truth, 
they  were  slain  with  the  sword :  they  wandered  about  in 
sheep-skins,  in  goat-skins ;  being  destitute,  afflicted,  maltreated ; 
— 38.  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy — wandering  in  deserts, 
and  mountains,  and  caves,  and  the  holes  of  the  earth.  39.  And 
these  all,  though  they  had  had  witness  borne  to  them,  through 
their  faith,  did  not  receive  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise,  40. 
God  having  provided  some  better  thing  as  to  us,  that,  apart 
from  us,  they  should  not  be  made  perfect. 

Having  such  examples,  and  above  all,  that  of  Jesus^ 
they  should  stand  firm  in  the  trials  that  might  come  on 
them,  and  regard  their  sufferings  as  a  gracious  chastise- 
ment, for  their  eternal  good. 

XII.  1.  Therefore  let  us  also,  as  well  as  the  saints  of  the 
old  covenant,  thus  famous — seeing  we  are  compassed  about, 
as  it  were,  by  them,  as  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  the 
priceless  worth  of  fidelity  to  faith,  lay  aside  every  hindrance, 
as  the  runner  in  the  games  lays  aside  his  dress,  and  let  us 
put  from  us,  especially,  the  sin  of  falling  away  from  Chris- 
tianity altogether,  which  in  these  times  so  readily  clings 
round  us,  stopping  our  progress,  and  let  us  run  with  patient 
endurance  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  2.  looking  to  Jesus 
for  our  imitation  and  encouragement — the  author  and  per- 
fecter  of  our  faith,  for  He  first  kindled  it  in  us,  and  He  will 
bring  it  to  final  triumph,  if  we  be  true  to  Him — who  for  the 
joy  that  was  set  before  Him,  as  the  heavenly  reward  of  His 
sufferings,  endured  the  cross,  despising  shame,  and  has  now 
sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God.  3.  For 
call  to  mind  Him  who  has  endured  such  opposition  of  sinners, 
to  their  own  condemnation,  that  ye  may  not  grow  weary,  and 
fainting  in  your  souls 


118  ST.    PETER 

Their  sufferings,  as  yet,  have  been  comparatively  light, 
and  they  have  been  sent  from  God  as  a  gracious  chastise- 
ment. 

4.   Ye  have  not  yet  resisted  to  blood,  striving  against  sin, 
5.  and  ye   have  forgotten   the   exhortation  which   speaks  to 
you  as  to  sons  of  God,  My  Son,  make  not  light  of  the  chastening 
of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  lohen  tliou  art  rebuked  of  Him-,  6.  for 
whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scour geth  every  son 
ichom  He  receiveth.^    7.   Ye  endure  all  this  for  chastening,  for, 
in  allowing  you  thus  to  suffer,  God,  really,  dealeth  with  you 
as  with  His  sons ;    for  what   son   is  there  whom   his   father 
chasteneth    not  ?     8.    But    if   ye    be   without    chastening,    of 
which  all  God's  children,  as  shown  in  the  enumeration  just 
given  of  Old  Testament   saints,   have  been   partakers,  then 
are  ye  bastards,  and  not  His  sons.     9.   Furthermore,  we  had, 
when  young,  the  fathers  of  our  flesh  who  chastened  us,  and 
we  gave  them  reverence  although  they  did  so :  shall  we  not, 
then,    much   rather   submit   ourselves    to   the   Father  of   our 
spirits,  and  live,  through  similar  reverence?     10.  For  they, 
our  earthly  parents,  verily,  for  a  few  days  chastened  us  as 
seemed  good  to  them;  but  He  for  our  profit,  that  we  may 
be  partakers  of   His  holiness.     11.  All   chastening,   indeed, 
seems,  for  the  time,  no  ground  of  joy,  but  rather  a  matter 
of  sorrow :   yet,  afterwards,  it  yields  peace-bringing  fruit  of 
righteousness,  to  them  who  have  been  subject  to  its  discipline. 
12.  Therefore,  since  what  you  may  suffer  proves  you  sons  of 
God,  and  is  for  your  good  in  the  end,  lift  up  the  hands  that 
hang  down,  and  straighten   the  now   feeble  knees;  13.  and 
make   smooth,    straight   paths   for   your   feet — the    straight 
smooth  paths  of  a  true  Christian  example,  that  that  which  is 
as  it  were  lame — any  weak  brother, — be  not  turned  out  of 
the  way,  but  rather  be  Strengthened  and  healed  of  his  weak- 
ness, by  keeping  on  in  the  only  right  and  safe  course. 

Unity  and  holiness  are  the  aims  to  be  especially  sought. 

1  Prov.  iii.  11,  12,  LXX.,  which  varies  somewhat  from  the  Hebrew. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       119 

14.  Follow  earnestly  after  peace  with  all  men,  including 
non- Christians,  and  after  holiness  of  life  and  spirit,  without 
wliich  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord  :  15.  keeping  a  diligent 
outlook  that  no  one  of  you  come  short  of  receiving,  hereafter, 
the  heavenly  reward — the  grace  of  God  :  lest  any  root  of 
bitterness  growing  up  cause  trouble,  and  the  many  be  defiled 
by  it;  16.  lest  there  appear  among  you  any  fornicator,  or 
profane  person,  like  Esau,  who  for  one  mess  of  meat  sold  his 
own  birthright.  17.  For  ye  know  that,  even  when  he,  after- 
wards, desired  to  inherit  the  blessing,  he  was  rejected — for 
he  found  no  room  in  Isaac's  mind  for  repentancfe  of  his  having 
by  error  given  the  blessing  to  Jacob,  though  he,  Esau,  sought 
it  earnestly  from  him,  with  tears. 

The  New  Covenant, through  Christ,  pledges  all  Christians 
to  strive  after  ever  higher  spiritual  life.  The  Old  Covenant 
had  its  horizon  on  earth,  appealed  only  to  material  hopes, 
and  was  enforced  by  the  dread  of  penalties,  but  the  New 
Covenant  is  spiritual  and  heavenly,  brings  us  into  com- 
munion with  God  and  all  the  holy  ones  around  Him  and 
secures  forgiveness  and  eternal  bliss. 

18.  For  ye  are  not,  like  your  forefathers,  come  unto  a 
mount  Sinai,  that  might  be  touched,  and  that  burned  with 
fire,  and  unto  blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest,  19.  and 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  words ;  which  they 
that  heard,  intreated  that  no  word  more  should  be  spoken 
to  them.  20.  For  they  could  not  endure  that  which  was 
commanded, — If  even  a  heast  touch  the  mountain,  it  shall  he 
stoned.^  21.  And,  indeed,  so  terrible  was  the  sight,  that 
even  Moses  said,  /  exceedingly  fear  and  qiiaker-  22.  But  ye 
are  come  to  mount  Zion,  and  lo  the  city  of  the  living  God, 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  innumerable  hosts  of  angels, 
23.  to  the  general  festal  assembly  and  church,  or  gathering 

^  A  free  condensed  quotation  from  Exod.  xix.  12,  13. 
2  Exod.  xix.  16. 


120  ST.   PETER 

of  the  jBrst-born,  who  are  entered  on  the  citizen-roll  in  heaven, 

and  to  God,  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect,  24.  and  to  Jesus,  the  mediator  of  a  new 
covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling — the  blood  of 
Jesus, — that  speaks  better  things  than  that  of  Abel — which 
cried  for  revenge,  while  that  of  Christ  cries  for  pity  and 
pardon.  25.  See  that  ye  refuse  not  Him,  Jesus,  that  speaketh. 
For  if  they,  your  forefathers,  escaped  not  when  they  refused 
him,  Moses,  who  spoke  for  God,  on  earth,  much  more 
shall  not  we  escape,  who  turn  away  to  Judaism  or  sin,  from 
Him  that  speaks  for  God  from  heaven  :  26.  whose  voice, — 
God's — then,  at  Sinai,  shook  the  earth,  but  who  now  has 
promised,  saying,  Yet  ones  more,  will  I  make  not  only  the 
earthj  hut  also  the  heavens  tremble}  27.  But  the  expression. 
Yet  once  more,  implies  the  removing  of  those  things  thus 
shaken,  because  they  were  only  created  things,  and,  as  such, 
doomed  to  pass  away,  that  those  things  that  are  not  shaken 
may  remain,  being  eternal  and  unchangeable.  28.  Where- 
fore, we,  receiving,  as  Christians,  a  share  in  a  kingdom  that 
cannot  be  shaken  or  changed,  for  ever,  let  us  be  gratefully 
thankful,  that  through  this  godly  frame  we  may  offer  service 
to  God  well  pleasing  to  Him,  with  fear  and  trembling,  lest 
we  fail  to  win  His  favour :  29.  for  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire. 

Closing  exhortations. 

XIII.  1.  Let  love  of  the  brotherhood  be  abiding,  2  and 
do  not  forget  to  show  love  also  to  strangers ;  for,  by  doing  so, 
some  have  entertained  angels  unawares.  3.  Remember,  by 
loving  ministrations  to  them,  those  brethren  who  are  in  bonds, 
as  if  you  were  bound  with  them ;  and  think  of  those  who  are 
ill  treated,  as  being  yourselves  also  in  the  body,  and  thus 
liable  to  the  same  fate.  4.  Let  marriage  be  held  in  honour 
among  all,  and  let  the  marriage  bed  be  undefiled  :  for  forni- 
cators and  adulterers  God  will  judge.  5.  Be  ye  free  from  the 
love  of  money,  being  content  with  what  you  have,  for  God  Him- 

^  Haggai  ii.  6,  freely  quoted  and  shortened. 


THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       121 

self  has  said,  /  will  in  no  wise  fail  thee,  neither  mil  I  in 
any  tcise  forsake  thee.^  6.  So  that  we  may  with  full  confid- 
ence say,  The  Lord  is  my  helper ;  I  will  not  fear ;  what  shall 
man  do  unto  me?^ 

7.  Remember  them  that  were  your  spiritual  leaders  and 
chiefs,  and  spoke  to  you  the  word  of  God ;  dwelling,  in  your 
thoughts,  on  the  ending  of  their  course  by  a  martyr  death ; 
for  so  have  already  passed  away  your  former  heads,  Stephen, 
James  the  elder,  James  the  brother  of  our  Lord,  and  Peter. 
Imitate  their  faith.  8.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same,  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever,  and  hence  His  faith  is  unchangeable. 
9.  Be  not  therefore  carried  away  by  divers  and  strange  teach- 
ings of  the  Judaisers;  for  it  is  good  that  the  heart  be 
stablished  by  God's  grace;  not  by  meats,  that  is,  by  the 
rites  of  the  Jewish  law,  by  which  those  who  occupied  them- 
selves with  them  were  not  profited.  10.  Nor  do  we  need  to 
go  to  the  Jewish  altar,  for  we  ourselves  have  an  altar,^  of 
the  sacrifice  ofi'ered  on  which,  they  from  among  you  have  no 
right  to  eat,  in  the  sacrificial  feast  that  follows  sacrifices,  who 
worship  God  in  the  tabernacle — the  Jewish  temple — thus 
seeking  spiritual  safety  in  Jewish  rites  and  service;  and 
voluntarily  abandoning  Christianity.  11.  For  the  bodies  of 
those  beasts  whose  blood  is  brought  into  the  Holy  of  Holies 
by  the  high  priest,  as  an  offering  for  sin,  are  burned  outside 
the  camp,^  12.  and  for  this  reason,  Jesus,  also,  that  He  might 
sanctify  the  people  through  His  own  blood,  suffered  outside 
the  gate  of  Jerusalem  ;  thus  making  a  new  and  distinct  altar, 
to  which,  as  high  priest  of  the  new  covenant,  he  brought 
His  own  blood,  as  to  a  new  Holy  of  Holies ;  cutting  off 
Christianity,  thenceforth,  from  all  communion  with  Judaism. 
13.  Let  us  Christians,  therefore,  go  forth  to  Him  outside  the 


^  Gen.  xxviii.  15  ;  Deut.  xxxi.  6,  8. 

2  Ps.  xxvii.  1  ;  Ivi.  4,  11,  12  ;  cxviii.  6. 

^  The  altar  of  Christians  is  variously  understood,  as  the  cross  on  which 
Christ  died,  the  Lord's  table,  and  the  Christian  congregation,  assembled 
for  worship  ;  but,  to  my  mind,  it  is,  clearly,  The  Cross.        *  Lev.  xvL  27. 


122  ST.    PETER 

camp  of  the  old  Jewish  system,  bearing  His  reproach,  heaped 
now  on  us  for  separating  from  Judaism.  14.  For  after  all,  we 
shall  not  have  to  bear  it  long,  for  we  have  not  an  abiding  city 
here,  in  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  but  earnestly  seek  after  that 
eternal  city,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem — which  is  to  come.  15. 
Since,  therefore,  by  Christ's  once  offering  of  Himself,  for  sin, 
we  are  sanctified  before  God,  and  need  no  more  sacrifices,  but 
have  only  to  offer  praise  to  God  for  redemption  through  Christ's 
blood,  let  us  not  go  back  to  Jewish  rites,  but  let  us  henceforth, 
through  Him,  Jesus,  offer  up  a  sacrifice  of  praise,  the  only 
sacrifice  we  now  have  to  offer,  to  God  continually,  that  is,  the 
fruit  of  our  lips,  which  make  confession  of  our  gratitude  for 
His  unspeakable  gift,  giving  praise  to  His  name.  16.  But  to 
do  good  to  the  brotherhood,  and  to  share  your  earthly  posses- 
sions with  them,  be  not  forgetful :  for  with  such  sacrifices  God 
is  well  pleased.  17.  Obey  them  that  preside  over  you — the  bench 
of  "elders,"  as  in  a  synagogue,  and  submit  to  them;  for  they 
watch  for  the  good  of  your  souls,  as  they  that  shall  give  ac- 
count to  the  Lord,  at  His  Coming;  acting  so  that  they  may 
do  this  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief  :  for  this  would  be  indeed 
unprofitable  for  you. 

18.  Pray  for  us ; — that  is,  for  him  who  writes  this  ;  for  we 
know  well  that  we  have  a  good  conscience  in  the  teaching  we 
give  you — the  teachings  of  Paul,  to  which  you  are  at  times 
inclined  to  demur — for  we  desire  to  live  honestly  in  all  things. 
19.  And  I  urge  you  the  more  earnestly  to  do  this,  that  1  may 
be  restored  to  you  the  sooner.  ^ 

20.  Now  the  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again  from  the 
dead  the  Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  bearing  with  Him  the 
blood  of  the  eternal  covenant — our  Lord  Jesus, — 21.  make 
you  perfect  in  all  that  is  good,  to  enable  you  to  do  His  will ; 
working  in  us,  in  me,  as  well  as  in  you,  all  that  is  well  pleasing 
in  His  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ ;  to  whom  be  the  glory  for 
ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

22.    But,   I  beseech  you,   brethren,   bear  with  the  word  of 

^  He  had,  thus,  been  personally  among  them  before. 


THE    EPISTLE    10    THE    HEBREWS — (CONTINUED)       128 

exhortation  :  for  I  have  written  you  only  in  few  words,  so 
that  you  may  bear  with  them  the  more  easily.  23.  Pray, 
know  that  our  brother  Timothy  is  set  at  liberty;  with  whom, 
if  he  come  shortly,  I  will  see  you. 

24.  Salute  all  your  spiritual  guides,  your  presiding  officers 
and  all  the  saints.     They  of  Italy  salute  you. 

25.  Grace  be  with  you  all.     Amen. 


CHAPTER  V 

BEFOKE    THE    STORM 

The  little  groups  of  Christians  which  gathered  as 
"  churches "  or  "  meetings,"  in  the  poor  half-lighted 
home  of  some  humble  disciple,  in  the  narrow  back  lanes 
of  Jerusalem,  or  of  the  towns,  or  villages,  of  Jud^a,  to 
hear  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  read  to  them,  at  their 
Sunday  or  other  assemblings,  must  have  lived,  in  these 
years,  amidst  constant  alarms.  Taking  no  part  in  the 
wild  eddying  commotions  of  the  times,  they  waited,  with 
almost  overpowering  excitement,  for  the  daily  expected 
return  of  their  Lord,  to  judge  His  enemies,  and  gather  His 
"  saints  "  from  "  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven 
to  the  other,"  to  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  them 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  They  held  their  meet- 
ings in  the  night,  for  they  belonged,  as  a  rule,  to  the 
very  poor,  whose  day  was  filled  with  sordid  toil,  and 
darkness  was,  besides,  the  only  safety  for  such  defence- 
less sheep,  in  the  midst  of  ravening  wolves ;  their  very 
life  depending  on  their  attracting  no  notice. 

The  Jewish  population,  as  a  whole,  were,  meanwhile, 
paralysed  by  the  state  of  affairs ;  the  priestly  aristocracy 
alone  still  labouring  to  avert  the  horrors  which  chronic 
insurrection  was  fast  bringing  on  the  nation.  Having 
much  to  lose,  and,  as  the  educated  class,  having  better 
knowledge   of   the   power   of  Eome   than    the  fanatical 

124 


BEFORE  THE   STORM  125 

multitude,  they  strained  every  nerve  to  arrest  the  revolu- 
tionary movement ;  even  some  of  the  Pharisees,  so  active 
till  now  as  agitators,  joining  them.  The  terrors  of  war, 
so  evidently  imminent,  at  last  alarmed  even  a  section 
of  this  party,  which,  for  many  years,  had  hounded  on  the 
people  to  insurrection,  and  they  would  fain,  when  hope- 
lessly too  late,  have  exorcised  the  demon  of  popular  fury 
they  had  evoked.  Priest  and  Pharisee,  alike,  had  continu- 
ally, in  these  last  years,  alarmed  the  country  by  the  cry 
that  the  Temple  was  in  danger  from  the  Eomans,  but, 
now,  the  high-priests  summoned  the  multitude  to  its 
wide  grounds,  and  implored  them  to  go  out  and  meet 
the  cohorts  of  Eome,  marching  up  with  the  procurator  from 
Caesarea  to  Jerusalem,  with  all  friendliness,  that  they 
might  thus  abate  an ti- Jewish  fierceness.  Wild  crowds  of 
fanatics,  day  by  day,  declaimed  against  Eome  in  the 
great  Temple  grounds,  but  while,  hitherto,  the  priests  and 
Levites  had  stirred  them  up  rather  than  calmed  them, 
they  now  changed  their  tone,  and  came  out  in  all  the 
pomp  of  their  festival  robes,  bearing  the  sacred  vessels ;  the 
Temple  harpers  and  singers,  before  them,  filling  the  air 
with  their  chants  and  strains ;  and  having  thus  gained 
the  attention  of  the  tumultuous  thousands,  prostrated 
themselves  on  the  ground,  while  the  high-priests  implored 
all,  for  the  sake  of  the  city  and  Temple  alike,  to  retire 
peaceably  and  do  nothing  to  provoke  the  Eomans.  Stand- 
ing in  front  of  the  lines  of  their  prostrate,  imploring 
brethren,  arrayed  in  all  their  pontifical  magnificence,  but 
with  dust  cast  on  their  heads,  and  their  inner  vestment 
rent  away  from  their  bared  breasts,  in  sign  of  the  deepest 
mourning,  they  entreated  the  leaders  of  the  city,  and  the 
people  as  a  whole,  not  to  rouse  the  worst  passions  of  the 


126  BKFOKE   THE   STORM 

legions  by  refusing  to  salute  them,  as  a  token  of  loyalty ; 
since  their  saluting  them  would  bring  peace,  while  their 
refusal  would  mean  the  ruin  of  the  city.^  But  it  had  been 
easier  to  stir  up  sedition  than  it  was  to  quiet  it,  so  that, 
though  some  of  the  multitude,  following  the  priests,  went 
out  to  meet  the  soldiery,  and  saluted  them  as  desired,  the 
refusal  of  the  cohorts  to  return  the  salutation  was  answered 
by  loud  cries  against  the  procurator.  A  fierce  charge  of 
the  foot-soldiers  instantly  scattered  the  seditious  mob: 
the  cavalry  pursuing  them  through  the  narrow  streets  of 
the  New  Town,  Bezetha,  the  part  north-east  of  the  Temple 
grounds  ;  cutting  down  large  numbers,  while  a  still  greater 
number  were  trampled  to  death  in  trying  to  escape. 

Amidst  such  unspeakable  tumult  it  seemed  possible  to 
the  Eomans  to  get  into  the  Temple,  and  thus  shut  out  the 
Jews  from  using  it  as  a  fortress  against  them ;  Florus 
aiding  an  attempt  to  do  so,  by  bringing  troops  down  from 
Herod's  palace  at  the  Jaffa  gate.  But  the  people,  seeing 
this,  crowded  the  flat  housetops,  and  impeded  the  advance 
of  the  Eomans  by  hurling  every  kind  of  missile  on  them 
from  above,  while  others  filled  the  Temple  courts,  and 
turned  the  Temple  into  an  isolated  fortress  by  tearing 
down  the  cloisters  that  joined-on  to  the  castle  Antonia, 
the  Eoman  barracks  in  that  part ;  their  fierce,  indo- 
mitable bravery  forcing  the  procurator  to  abandon,  for 
the  time,  the  hope  of  getting  possession  of  the  Temple,  and 
with  it,  of  its  treasures,  which  Elorus,  no  doubt,  would 
fain  have  made  his  own. 

But  in  spite  of  this  disaster,  the  heads  of  the  nation 
would  not  give  up  all  hope  of  still  calming  down  the 
half -mad  populace ;  Agrippa  standing  first  among  these 

^  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  15,  4. 


BEFORE   THE   STORM  127 

prominent  mediators.  It  was  his  aim,  on  the  one  hand, 
to  pacify  the  people,  and,  on  the  other,  to  incline  them 
to  make  concessions  to  the  Eomans,  though,  above  all,  he 
was  anxious  to  convince  the  emperor  that  the  only  way 
to  real  peace  was  by  restoring  the  house  of  Herod,  in  his 
person.  There  was,  indeed,  much  to  be  said  for  his  policy, 
for  it  had  been  proved  by  the  reign  of  Agrippa  I.,  that 
Judaea  could  be  ruled  peaceably,  as  a  vassal  state,  without 
interference  with  its  theocratic  ideas.  A  friendly  feeling 
towards  the  Herodian  dynasty  had,  also,  been  created  by 
Agrippa,  and  the  fact  that  Agrippa  II.,  his  son,  was  already 
what  we  may  call  Minister  of  Public  Worship,  with  all 
connected  with  the  Temple  and  Tern  pie- worship  under  his 
authority,  promised  to  strengthen  this  kindly  relation 
with  the  Jews.  The  supporters  of  the  family  were,  more- 
over, increasing,  for  in  proportion  as  the  Pharisees  drew 
back  from  the  Zealots,  and  the  men  of  action  took  the 
place  of  the  rabbinical  authorities,  the  sympathy  of  the 
whole ^  Pharisee  party  inclined,  more  and  more,  to  the 
dynasty  whose  last  representative  had  organised  the  con- 
stitution according  to  their  ideas.  Unfortunately,  the 
man  to  whom  so  many  thus  looked  as  the  leader  who 
would  redeem  Israel,  was  not  equal  to  the  task.  The 
persistent  blunders  which  he  made  in  the  choice  of  high- 
priests  was  ominous.  He  had  appointed  in  the  room 
of  Hannas,  the  murderer  of  James,  one  Jesus,  son  of 
DamnaBUS,  but  he  proved  to  be  hostile  to  the  Eomans, 
and  had  to  be  set  aside  in  favour  of  Jesus,  son  of  Gamaliel. 
Anarchy,  however,  had  already  spread  so  widely  that  the 
priests  objected  to  acknowledge  this  new  head.  The 
lower  priests  were  determinedly  against  him  and  Hannas, 
with  whom  he  closely  allied  himself,  and  whose  dismal 


128  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

fate  he  was  afterwards  to  share.  Both  parties  armed 
themselves,  and  the  exercise  of  the  high-priestly  powers 
was  made  the  subject  of  fierce  streets-fights,  in  which  the 
opposing  priestly  factions  assailed  each  other  with  stones 
and  clubs.  Even  Agrippa's  own  family  were  finally 
drawn  into  the  struggle;  two  of  the  roughest  bands  of 
rioters  being  led  by  his  cousins.  Costobar  and  Saul,  and 
it  was  only  when  Florus  came  to  his  aid,  that  Agrippa 
could  overpower  the  disputants.  Deposing  his  last  high- 
priest,  he  now  sought  peace  by  installing  Matthias,  the 
son  of  Theophilus,  a  son  of  the  Hannas,  or  Ananos,  of  the 
Gospels ;  the  last  of  the  roll  of  legitimately  appointed 
high-priests,  though  the  people,  during  the  war,  set  up  for 
themselves  an  irregularly  chosen  high-priest,  Phanniel. 
Agrippa  had  thus  appointed  or  deposed,  in  succession, 
six"  high-priests,  while  he  had  neither  protected  the  lower 
grades  of  the  priesthood,  nor  made  the  higher  ranks  his 
friends.  To  crown  all,  a  great  excitement  rose  against 
him  immediately  before  the  final  actual  opening  of  the 
war.  To  leave  a  permanent  memorial  of  himself  in  the 
records  of  the  Temple  worship,  he  granted  the  Levites  of 
the  choir  the  priestly  right  to  wear  linen  robes,  and 
ordained  that  the  Temple  servants  should  learn  the  sacred 
chants;  an  innovation  against  which  both  priests  and 
Pharisees  rose  in  wild  protest ;  predicting  the  destruction 
of  the  state  for  this  insult  to  the  Law. 

But  all  that  had  happened  was  only  the  first  drops  of 
the  gathering  storm.  A  demand  for  a  vast  sum,  to  help 
ISTero  to  pay  for  the  great  palaces  he  was  building  at  Eome, 
roused  Jewish  fanaticism  to  the  uttermost,  though  Judaea 
was  only  suffering  in  common  with  other  provinces.  The 
cry  of   "Corban,  a  gift  (to  God),"  not  to  be  touched 


BEFORE  THE   STORM  129 

except  for  sacred  uses,  rose  from  thousands  with  wild 
fury,  amidst  savage  shouts  to  defend  the  property  of 
Jehovah  from  what  was  maintained  to  be  the  personal 
extortion  of  the  procurator.  Some,  indeed,  went  so  far 
as  to  go  about  with  beggars'  bowls  through  the  town,  to 
collect  alms  for  such  a  poor  mendicant.  Infuriated  at 
the  insult,  he  instantly  occupied  Jerusalem  with  a  strong 
force,  and  since  the  Sanhedrim  could  not  pay  down  the 
money  at  once,  he  gave  up  the  market  of  the  higher  town 
to  plunder  and  crucified  the  prisoners  taken,  including 
some  Jews  of  high  position  in  the  Eoman  service. 
Agrippa  had  gone  to  Egypt,  to  greet  the  new  Egyptian 
procurator,  but  Berenice  his  sister  remained  behind  in 
the  city,  and  in  one  of  her  pious  moods  had  taken  the 
Nazarite  vow,  offering  her  shorn  hair  in  the  Temple.  A 
deputation  sent  by  the  Sanhedrin  to  Florus  having  been 
refused  an  audience,  she  now  set  ofi,  in  her  anxiety  for 
her  people,  barefooted,  in  the  garb  of  a  supplicant,  to  the 
procurator,  to  entreat  for  clemency,  but  the  insults  of  the 
soldiery  made  her  flee  back  to  the  palace  of  the  Hasmon- 
aeans,  where  she  was  staying,  and  there  she  spent  the 
night  in  mortal  fear,  guarded  by  armed  servants.  The 
war  may  be  said  to  have  begun  from  this  day:  the  16th 
of  May,  6Q. 

Meanwhile  the  feud  between  the  procurator  and  the 
Jews  grew  so  much  more  embittered,  that  his  superior, 
the  Syrian  Proconsul,  at  his  wits'  end,  sent  an  official 
from  Antioch  to  Jamnia  on  the  Philistine  plain,  then  a 
seaport,  to  meet  Agrippa  as  he  returned  from  Alexandria, 
and  come  with  him  to  Jerusalem ;  the  people  going  out 
eight  miles  from  it,  to  greet  the  Eoman  dignitary.  In 
Jerusalem  itself,  however,  Agrippa  and  he  had  to  bear 
IV.  I 


130  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

with  all  the  wild  excitement  of  Orientals  ;  the  multitude 
besieging  the  gates  of  the  palace  in  huge  crowds,  raising 
loud  unappeasable  wailings  and  lameii tings  over  the 
violence  of  Florus.  But  Agrippa  still  hoped  that  they 
might  be  calmed  down  by  fine  words,  and  turned  from 
the  lawlessness  that  had  already  almost  roused  the  Pro- 
consul against  them.  Summoning  the  populace,  therefore, 
to  the  open  colonnaded  space  known  as  the  Xystus,  on 
the  west  edge  of  what  was  then  the  valley  dividing  the 
Temple  hill  from  the  "  upper  city,"  and  taking  his  stand, 
with  his  sister,  on  a  balcony  of  the  old  palace  of  the  Jewish 
Maccabean  kings,  close  at  hand,  he  harangued  them  in 
a  long  speech  reported,  more  or  less  closely,  by  Josephus. 
Painting,  with  vivid  eloquence,  the  awful  power  of  Eome 
and  the  insane  folly  of  rushing  on  death  and  national  ruin 
by  bringing  about  war  with  it,  his  harangue,  which  closed 
amidst  his  own  tears  and  those  of  his  sister,  abated  the 
storm  for  a  time.  The  ruined  portico  of  the  Temple  was 
rebuilt,  and  the  Jewish  authorities  collected  from  the 
country  at  large,  the  forty  talents  deficient  in  the  Eoman 
tribute.  But  hostihty  to  Florus  was  still  so  fierce  that 
stones  were  thrown  by  some  at  Agrippa,  and  he  was 
insulted  as  the  betrayer  of  his  country,  for  urging  peace 
before  it  was  settled  who  should  succeed  the  procurator : 
an  insult  resented  by  the  king's  withdrawing  to  his  own 
dominions,  in  the  north. 

Both  sides  were  now  exasperated.  Eleazar,  a  son  of 
Hannas  the  deposed  high-priest,  and  grandson  of  the 
Hannas  of  the  Gospels,  a  daring  youth,  took  the  mad 
step,  as  captain  of  the  Temple,  of  ordering  back  the 
priests  who  were  about  to  make  the  oblation  presented 
daily  for  Caesar.     In  vain  the  high-priests  and  the  most 


BEFORE   THE   STORM  131 

famous  rabbis  declared  it  unlawful  to  prevent  any  one 
from  offering :  in  vain  the  oldest  priests  protested  that 
such  a  thing  was  unprecedented.  No  single  Levite  could 
be  found  who  would  make  the  usual  offering  for  the 
emperor.  The  high-priests  could  only  send  leading  men 
to  Flonis  and  Agrippa,  declaring  their  abhorrence  of  such 
proceedings. 

But  now,  open  insurrection  blazed  up  in  the  south. 
Menahem.  a  son  of  the  hery  Zealot  and  dauntless  Mac- 
cabee,  Judas  the  Gaulonite,  who  had  given  so  much 
trouble  many  years  before,  having  collected  a  large  band, 
was  able  to  seize  the  strong  fortress  of  Masada,  on  the 
Dead  Sea,  murdering  the  Eoman  garrison.  Herod  the 
Great  had  stored  up  immense  quantities  of  weapons  and 
of  war  material  in  it,  and  thus  the  multitude  were  pro- 
vided with  arms.  The  Jewish  priestly  authorities,  on 
hearing  the  appalling  news,  felt  that  decisive  steps  must 
at  once  be  taken,  and  sent,  asking  both  Florus  and  Agrippa 
to  march  troops  to  Jerusalem,  to  crush  the  rebellion  while 
possible.  This  appeal,  Agrippa,  now  finally  separated 
from  the  populace,  answered  by  sending  3000  horse,  who 
occupied  the  upper  town,  to  which  the  high-priests,  and 
the  higher  classes  of  the  citizens,  had  fled.  The  lower 
town  was,  meanwhile,  seized  by  Menahem;  between  whom 
and  Agrippa's  men  there  was  continual  fighting.  At  last, 
on  the  day  of  the  people  bringing  offerings  of  wood  for 
the  altar,  Menahem,  strengthened  by  a  band  of  assassins, 
ovei-powered  Agrippa's  troops.  The  higher  town  was  now 
given  up  to  plunder ;  the  palaces  of  Agrippa,  of  Berenice 
and  of  the  high-priest  H annas  burned  down  ;  the  fury  of  the 
mob  raging  especially  against  Hannas — the  hateful  judge 
of  Paulj-^wbo  had  to  conceal  himself  in  an  undercrround 


132  BEFORE   THE   STOKM 

sewer,  from  which,  however,  he  was  dragged  out   and 
pitilessly  murdered,  along  with  his  brother  Hezekiah.^ 

Menahem  was  now  lord  of  Jerusalem,  and,  in  royal 
luoes,  urged  on  his  bands,  from  the  Temple  grounds,  to 
attack  the  Eomans  in  their  castle,  Antonia ;  ^  having  al- 
ready, by  mining  under  the  wall  of  the  upper  town, 
forced  the  troops  of  Agrippa  to  capitulate.  The  cohort 
left  behind  by  Florus,  was  thus  unable  to  hold  Antonia,  and 
retreated  to  the  three  castles — Hippicus,  still  standing  near 
the  Jaffa  gate, — Phasael,andMariamne;  Menahem  burning 
Antonia  when  thus  abandoned,  and  demolishing  the  side 
of  it  next  the  Temple.  Yet  this  triumph  was  not  without 
its  qualification,  for,  erelong,  men  bethought  them  that 
the  Temple  grounds  were,  by  this  change,  made  four- 
square, which,  the  rabbins  had  taught,  foreboded  the  fall 
of  the  Temple,  by  transforming  its  grounds  into  the 
supposed  shape  of  the  heathen  world.  But  the  reign  of 
Menahem  was  short,  for  the  high-priestly  or  aristocratic 
party  soon  got  over  their  first  panic,  and  having  rallied 
their  followers,  attacked  him ;  that  its  leaders,  who  now 
were  the  younger  H annas  and  Eleazar,  might  rule  in  his 
place.  Falling  upon  him  as  he  was  going  up  to  the  Temple, 
in  royal  purple,  his  party  was  scattered  by  the  assailants, 
weary  of  the  cruel  despotism  of  this  phantom  king ; 
Menahem  himself  being  dragged  out  of  a  hiding-place  on 
Ophel,  and  killed  with  every  refinement  of  torture.  Still 
there  was  no  peace ;  Eleazar  and  his  faction  pressing  on 
the  struggle  against  the  Eomans,  who,  being  unsupported 
from  outside,  were  at  last  forced  to  surrender,  on  con- 
dition of  their  lives  being  spared.  But  with  the  faithless- 
ness which  marked  Jews  in  their  dealings  with  Gentiles, 
1  Jos.  Bdl.  ii.  17,  6,  9.  ^  ^^^^  ji  17^  g. 


BEFOEE  THE   STORM 


133 


the  whole  garrison  no  sooner  laid  down  their  arms,  than 
they  were  massacred,  with  the  exception  of  the  tribune, 
who  was  spared  on  his  promising  to  turn  a  Jew. 


Hippicus,  the  so-called  "David's  Tower"  of  to-day.     It  is  the  only  one  of 
Herod  s  castles  now  standing. 

{From  a  photograph  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  F.  TrenUett.) 


Meanwhile,  the  fury  of  the  non-Jewish  population 
everywhere,  at  the  monstrous  doings  of  the  Zealots,  in 
Jerusalem  and  elsewhere,  had  resulted,  far  and  near,  in 


134  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

an  anti-Jew  war  ;  fiercely  fought  out  on  both  sides.  From 
Gaza,  on  the  far  south,  to  Ptolemais,  and  from  Ascalon, 
on  the  sea-coast,  to  Pella,  beyond  the  Jordan,  the  towns 
were  turned  to  battlefields,  till,  as  Josephus  tells  us, 
heaps  of  bodies  of  men,  women,  and  children,  lay  rotting 
unburied,  all  over  the  land,  while  the  Eoman  garrisons 
had  their  throats  cut,  wherever  overcome.  Nor  was  this 
civil  war  confined  to  Palestine  or  Syria :  terrific  tumults 
in  Alexandria  ending  in  7000  troops  being  let  loose  on 
the  local  Jews,  whom  they  well-nigh  exterminated. 

The  Proconsul  Cestius,  forced  at  last  to  take  vigorous 
action,  now  set  out  from  Antioch  with  a  body  of  legion- 
aries and  auxiliaries,  horse  and  foot,  over  20,000  in 
number ;  Agrippa  accompanying  him.  Sweeping  away 
all  opposition  in  Galilee  and  the  country  north  of  Jeru- 
salem, flames  and  death  marking  his  progress,  he  had 
almost  reached  the  Holy  City  towards  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember. Eager  to  save  his  possible  dominions,  Agrippa 
once  more  tried  to  mediate,  but  the  Jews  rejected  with 
scorn  the  overtures  of  one  who  was  guide  to  the  legions. 
His  party  in  the  city  were  able  however,  to  help  Cestius 
to  get  possession  of  the  new  town,  which  lay  north-east 
of  the  Temple  grounds,  but  he  could  not  take  the  upper 
town  or  the  Temple,  though  it  seems  that,  had  he  per- 
severed, they  would  both  have  been  speedily  surrendered. 
Yet,  now,  suddenly  calling  off  his  troops,  he  began  a 
retreat,  despairing  of  success,  and  only  anxious  to  lead 
back  his  men  safely  to  C?esarea.  But  this  he  was  not  to 
effect.  His  rear  had  been  greatly  harassed  by  the  Jews 
m  his  advance,  but  now  they  assailed  him  at  once  on 
the  flanks  and  from  behind.  At  last,  as  the  legionaries 
descended  towards  the  coast  plains  by  the  pass  of  Beth- 


BEFORE  THE   STORM  135 

horon,  so  often  fatal,  in  the  past,  to  retreating  armies, — the 
Jews  assailed  them  with  the  utmost  audacity  from  the 
steep  sides  of  the  descent,  where  cavalry  could  not  act,  till 
the  whole  force  was  thrown  into  confusion  and  fled  as  a 
mob  rather  than  an  organised  force.  At  last,  the  fugitives 
who  escaped  slaughter  reached  Antipatris,  where  they 
were  safe,  but  all  the  baggage  of  the  army  was  lost ;  its 
military  chest,  its  siege  engines,  the  equivalent  of  our 
artillery,  and  its  military  train  of  all  kinds;  5300  foot- 
soldiers  and  380  cavalry  having  been  killed,  and  a  great 
multitude  taken  prisoners. 

This  sad  reverse  to  the  Eoman  arms  was  the  signal 
for  a  fresh  outburst  of  popular  rage  against  the  Jews, 
over  the  whole  Syrian  province,  and  also  in  Egypt.  In 
Csesarea  alone,  20,000  Jews  had  fallen  in  the  previous 
rising  against  them,  13,000  at  Scythopolis  or  Beth- 
shean,  60,000  at  Alexandria,  and  many  thousands  more, 
up  and  dov/n  the  disturbed  regions.  But  now,  Jew- 
killing  became  fiercer  than  ever.  Ten  thousand  were 
massacred  in  Damascus,  and  it  was  soon  found  by  the 
hated  race,  that  instead  of  sympathy  in  their  mad  fury 
against  Eome,  they  had  no  friends  whatever.  Even  their 
brethren  of  "The  Dispersion"  stood  coldly  aloof  from 
them.  A  so-called  Sanhedrim  had  organised  itself  in 
Jerusalem  into  a  War  Ministry,  to  prosecute  the  resist- 
ance to  Home,  but  the  empire  was,  at  last,  thoroughly 
roused,  and  the  disastrous  and  unnecessary  retreat  of 
the  Syrian  Proconsul,  which  had  caused  the  destruction 
of  the  twelth  legion,  was  soon  to  be  terribly  avenged. 
Cestius  was  allowed  to  choose  his  own  mode  of  death,^ 
and  Flavins  Vespasian,  with  a  great  reputation  won  in 

1  Tac.  Hist.  V.  10. 


136  BEFORE  THE   STORM 

Britain,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief,  and  Licinius 
Mucianus  as  Proconsul  of  Syria ;  the  one,  noted  as  the 
sternest  of  soldiers,  the  other,  as  a  man  of  wide  and 
statesman-like  qualities. 

The  condition  of  the  Palestine  Christians  amidst  such 
an  upheaval  of  society  may  be  conceived.  Little  could 
be  done  to  spread  the  new  faith,  when  men  were  every- 
where in  wild  terror  for  their  lives,  or  deaf  to  reason  by 
a  fanaticism  which  had  blind  faith  in  leaders  who  trusted 
to  miracles  for  victory ;  daily  expecting  Jehovah  to  appear 
as  their  champion ;  leaders  uniting  with  all  this  fanaticism 
an  open  sanction  of  murder  and  violence  to  gain  their 
ends,  and  divided  into  hostile  camps,  which  hated  each 
other  almost  as  bitterly  as  all  hated  the  Koman. 

Meanwhile,  the  insurrection  in  Palestine  was  viewed 
at  Eome  as  a  very  serious  matter.  Peace  with  the  Par- 
thians  had  but  recently  been  concluded ;  a  fresh  war  was 
threatened  in  Gaul;  a  third  still  dragged  itself  on  in 
Britain ;  the  Germans  showed  themselves  hostile ;  and  a 
general  rising  against  Nero  was  by  no  means  impossible. 
The  East,  moreover,  had  always  been  so  restive  ander  the 
supremacy  of  Rome,  that  even  those  who  knew  the 
hatred  of  the  Jews  to  the  Syrian-Greeks  and  Arabs, 
hoped  that  the  defeat  of  Cestius  would  lead  to  a  union 
of  these  discordant  elements.  The  leaders  of  the  insur- 
rection, themselves,  counted  on  the  Babylonian  Jews 
coming,  in  mass,  to  their  help,  and  to  large  contributions 
in  money  being  sent  them  from  the  Dispersion  through- 
out the  empire ;  their  expectations,  being,  perhaps,  to  a 
small  extent  realised.  But  the  fate  of  the  revolution 
was  already  determined  by  the  spirit  of  its  leaders  for 
the  time ;  those  of  the  dignified  class,  being  resolved  to 


BEFORE   THE   STOIIM  137 

keep  such  terms  with  the  Eomans,  as  would  bring  about 
a  self-government  of  Judsea  by  one  of  the  Herod 
dynasty,  or  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Pharisee  party,  while 
those  of  the  Zealots  would  have  no  relations  with  the 
heathen,  and  looked  for  the  all-sufficient  intervention  of 
Jehovah,  in  behalf  of  His  Temple  and  people.  Traditional 
reverence  for  the  heads  of  the  priestly  caste  alone  ac- 
counts for  their  being  left  to  prepare  for  the  impending 
war ;  for,  though  their  position  gave  them  a  special  know- 
ledge of  affairs  and  of  the  venerated  Law,  and  though  they 
were  accustomed  to  command,  they  had  neither  heart  nor 
capacity  for  the  duties  assigned  them.  Yet  they  made  a 
show  of  activity  at  the  outset,  appointing  generals  to  all 
the  different  districts  under  them,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Jordan,  and,  among  others,  Josephus,  to  command  in 
Galilee.  This  high  post  he  owed  to  his  being  of  illustrious 
priestly  descent  on  his  father's  side,  and  connected  with 
the  royal  Hasmonsean  line  on  that  of  his  mother ;  to  his 
wide  culture  in  all  Jewish  learning  and  his  familiarity 
with  even  Greek  literature ;  his  successful  management  of 
some  public  affairs  with  which  he  had  been  entrusted, 
at  Eome ;  and  to  the  friendship  of  the  high-priest  Jesus, 
the  son  of  Gamaliel.  He  had,  besides,  the  advantacre 
of  youth,  for  he  was  not  yet  thirty  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment. 

On  Josephus  and  Hannas  now  rested  the  fate  of  the 
country  :  the  former  controlling  the  destinies  of  the  war- 
like north;  the  latter,  those  of  Judsea.  Hannas  was  a 
son  of  the  Hannas  of  the  Gospels  and  a  true  representa- 
tive of  the  haughty  and  violent  Sadducee  party.  In  his 
brief  high- priesthood  of  three  months,  he  had  made  haste 
to  stain  his  hands  with  the  blood  of  James  the  Just  and 


138  BEFORE   THE   STORM 

other  Christians,  and  he  would,  as  his  father's  son,  no 
doubt,  fain  have  exterminated  the  new  faith,  had  his 
reign  continued.  He  next  appears,  as  the  associate  of 
Ananias  the  son  of  Nebedai,  the  brutal  judge  of  Paul, 
ruthlessly  carrying  out  the  heartless  policy  of  the  Sadducee 
priest-aristocracy,  by  grasping  all  the  tithes  for  himself, 
leaving  the  lower  orders  of  the  priesthood  literally  to 
starve  to  death.  The  fate  of  the  two  was  strangely  con- 
trasted, for  Ananus  was,  erelong,  we  have  seen,  killed  in 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  while  Hannas  became  leader  of 
the  war-Sanhedrim.  Next  him  in  this  strikingly  com- 
posed ministry,  was  the  former  high-priest  Jesus,  son  of 
Gamaliel,  who  during  his  reign  had  fought  with  Jesus, 
son  of  Damnai,  for  retention  of  his  dignity. 

Hannas  at  once,  with  his  wonted  energy,  began  the 
building  of  the  city  wall,  in  which  he  was  largely  aided 
by  the  gold  taken  from  Cestius,  now  in  the  hands  of 
Eleazar.  In  fact,  he  erelong  betrayed  his  own  party  for  its 
sake ;  the  covetousness  which  made  him  detested  by  all 
the  lower  priesthood,  in  the  end  mastering  even  his 
better  sense.  The  moderate  party  were  disappointed  by 
such  over- zeal,  but  as  the  Zealots  grew  stronger,  his  old 
Sadducee  spirit  once  more  came  out.  To  bestow  offices 
out  of  the  regular  succession  of  the  priestly  courses  was, 
he  declared,  unholy,  and  he  began,  along  with  Jesus,  Ben 
Gamaliel,  to  exhort  the  people  to  preserve  the  Temple 
by  making  peace  with  the  Eomans.  They,  he  now  main- 
tained, were  the  true  friends  of  the  Law,  while  the 
Zealots,  he  asserted,  trampled  it  under  foot.  He  even 
spoke  of  the  Eoman  eagles  as  the  symbol  of  true  liberty 
and  reverence  for  Jehovah.^     Nor  did  he  content  himself 

1  Bell,  iv.  3,  10,  12. 


BEFORE   THE   STORM  139 

with  words,  but  armed  a  force,  and  thus  began  the  fearful 
civil  war  which  tore  Jerusalem  in  pieces,  and  in  which 
he,  with  Jesus,  Ben  Gamaliel,  met  his  well-merited  end. 

But,  however  grave  the  state  of  affairs  might  be  in 
Jerusalem,  the  issue  of  the  war  depended  on  its  fortunes 
in  Galilee,  which,  bordering  on  Syria,  was  exposed  to  the 
tirst  attack,  but  nevertheless  madly  thought  that  its  being 
the  richest,  most  warlike,  and  most  populous  district  of 
Palestine,  would  suffice  for  victory.  Galilee  was  indeed 
the  mainstay  of  the  revolt,  for,  apart  from  its  resources, 
it  secured  a  connection  with  the  upper  Euphrates,  from 
which  an  army  of  volunteers  was  expected,  while  its  own 
people  were  counted  upon  to  rally  in  strong  force  to 
the  help  of  Jerusalem.  But  the  North,  after  all,  was  the 
weakest  part  of  the  country,  for  the  Herods  had  not 
dared  to  build  any  fortresses  along  the  Syrian  border, 
and  hence  there  was  nothing  to  stop  the  march  of  the 
legions.  Yet  this  supremely  important  region  was 
handed  over  by  the  Sanhedrim,  not  to  a  tried  and 
capable  soldier,  but  to  Josephus,  a  man  under  thirty,  a 
hereditary  priest  who  knew  nothing  of  war,  but  had 
given  his  life  to  the  ambitions  of  his  order,  the  studies  of 
the  scribes,  and  the  strict  legalism  of  a  rigid  Pharisee. 
To  make  matters  even  more  hopeless,  instead  of  two 
soldiers  as  colleagues  and  advisers,  he  went  to  his  com- 
mand with  two  priests  at  his  side. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  a  commander  so  utterly 
unprepared  for  his  charge  was  a  conspicuous  failure. 
He  had  never  seen  war  and  knew  nothing  about  it,  and 
though  he  boasts  of  knowing  Greek  enough  to  read  it, 
yet  not  to  speak  it  fluently,  he  excuses  this  half-know- 
ledge of  a  language  necessary  for  intercourse  with  the 


140  BEFOEE   THE   STORM 

non-Jewish  world,  by  saying  that  the  knowledge  of 
languages  was  valued  lightly  by  his  people;  those  only 
being  thought  learned  or  "  wise "  who  gave  themselves 
up  to  the  study  of  the  Law,  and  understood  it  and 
the  other  Scriptures  as  the  rabbis  did.  In  this  connec- 
tion he  remarks,  as  if  to  show  his  special  claim  to  such 
a  reputation,  that  as  a  boy  of  fourteen,  he  was  already 
so  famous  for  his  attainments  of  this  kind,  that  even 
high-priests  and  the  first  men  of  the  city,  came  to 
him,  asking  his  exposition  of  fundamental  questions  of 
doctrine.  True  to  this  supreme  passion,  he  remained 
now,  when  Governor  of  Galilee,  only  a  disguised  rabbi, 
under  whose  military  cloak  there  could  be  seen  at  his 
every  movement,  the  robe  of  the  Pharisee,  with  extra 
large  tassels  ^  and  extra  broad  phylacteries. 

Instead  of  organising  the  population,  and  securing 
alliances,  this  extraordinary  generalissimo  dreamed  only 
of  creating  an  ideal  Pharisee  community,  though  the 
Roman  legions  were  already  on  the  march  against  him. 
In  imitation  of  the  Mosaic  body  of  Elders,  he  appointed 
a  body  of  seventy  elders  in  Galilee,  carefully  limit- 
ing their  powers  by  the  Mosaic  model.  In  every  town 
he  further  appointed  a  smaller  group  of  seven  men, 
who  should  decide  any  smaller  matters;  anything 
weighty  needing,  however,  his  judgment.  The  mansions 
of  Tiberias  were  searched,  not  to  see  what  contributions 
they  might  afford  for  defence,  but  whether  there  were 
in  them  any  statues  or  decorations  contrary  to  the 
second  commandment,  and  he  examined  the  storehouses 
in  town  and  country,  not  to  discover  what  stock  of 
provisions  they  showed,  but  whether  the   oil   in  them 

^   Matt,  xxiii.  5. 


BEFORE  THE  STORM  141 

was  Levitically  pure,  and  prepared  according  to  the 
directions  of  the  Mosaic  law.^  His  two  priestly  col- 
leagues, meanwhile,  were  supremely  concerned  in  the 
collection  of  the  tithes,  which  had  not  been  paid  for 
many  years,  and  when  these  had  filled  their  pockets  and 
made  them  suddenly  rich,  they  asked  leave  to  resign, 
and  go  back  to  their  homes;  Josephus  having  great 
trouble  in  persuading  them  to  remain  with  him.  Hating 
the  Zealots,  he  enrolled  troops  from  the  substantial 
classes,  and  looked  with  contempt  on  the  companies  of 
young  good-for-nothings  raised  by  his  local  lieutenants, 
who  soon  saw  his  inefficiency,  and  acted  for  themselves. 
On  the  Sabbath,  the  forces  were  freed  from  duty  and 
returned  home.  Such  a  ridiculous  misconception  of 
his  duties  infuriated  the  fanatical  party,  and  erelong 
roused  some  of  his  local  officers  to  open  hostility.  In 
Tarichasa  he  nearly  perished,  in  a  popular  rising  against 
him  as  a  traitor.  The  city  of  Tiberias  sent  to  Herod 
Agrippa,  begging  him  to  come  and  rule  them  for  the 
Romans.  Gisch.ala  was  attacked,  to  put  down  the  peace 
party.  The  land  was  torn  by  civil  war,  Josephus  and 
his  lieutenants  fighting  each  other,  even  while  the  tread 
of  the  approaching  legions  might  almost  be  heard. 
Hypocrisy,  treachery,  and  thirst  for  blood,  raged  among 
these  "  soldiers  of  God,"  who  pretended  to  fight  for  their 
religion.  A  public  confession  having  been  appointed  in 
the  synagogue  at  Tiberias,  to  own  before  God,  that 
weapons,  without  Him,  were  of  no  avail,  it  was  found 
tliat  each  faction  tried  to  get  the  other  to  come  un- 
armed, that  they  might  thus  cut  them  down ;  each 
discovering   that    those    of    the   rival    party   near    him 

1  Bea.  ii.  21,  2  ;    Vita,  13. 


142  BEFORE  THE   STORM 

had  armour  and  a  dagger  under  their  sackcloth  mantle.^ 
Still  more,  it  was  found  that  the  "  saints  "  who  supplied 
the  towns  with  oil,  "  pure  and  well  pleasing  to  God," 
sold  in  them  for  ten  drachmas  what  had  cost  them  one. 
Worse  than  all,  the  most  awful  oaths,  in  the  name  of 
God,  were  no  safeguard  from  the  meanest  treachery. 
In  short,  utter  depravity  and  faithlessness  reigned  on 
every  hand. 

The  end  ot  such  a  state  of  affairs  was  not  doubtful. 
Powerless  to  stop  the  huge  force  of  60,000  legionaries 
and  auxiliaries,  perfectly  disciplined,  who  swept  south- 
wards, under  Vespasian,  crushing  all  opposition,  Josephus 
found  himself  at  last  shut  up  in  the  strong  town  of 
Jotapata,  with  a  besieging  force  round  it,  to  which  he 
had  erelong  to  surrender,  though  he  saved  his  own  life 
by  acutely  declaring  that  a  divine  vision  had  revealed 
to  him  that  Vespasian  would  be  emperor.  Received  after 
a  time  into  favour,  he  thenceforth  broke  off  all  connec- 
tion with  the  revolution,  and  became  a  zealous  Roman. 
Meanwhile,  Mount  Tabor  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
Gerizim,  Samaria,  Joppa,  and  many  other  places,  were 
stormed,  and  the  invaders  turned  back  to  finish  the 
war  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee.  Tiberias  soon  fell,  and 
the  fisher  population  of  Tarichgea  having  taken  to  their 
boats,  Vespasian  built  a  rival  fleet  and  utterly  destroyed 
them ;  hundreds  of  rotting  corpses  being  cast  up  on 
the  beach  for  many  days  after.  Presently,  nothing 
hindered  the  march  against  Jerusalem.  Its  doom  was 
near  at  hand. 

I  have  been  thus  minute  in  sketching  the  state  of 
things  in  Palestine  up  to  the  investment  of  the  Holy  City 

1  Vita,  56,  57. 


BEFORE  THE  STORM  143 

by  the  Komans,  that  the  tremendous  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  Christianity,  in  those  years,  may  be  realised. 
The  still  small  voice  of  our  religion,  which  does  not  strive, 
or  lift  itself  up  in  the  streets,  must  have  been  well-nigh 
drowned  in  the  din  of  revolutionary  commotion.  Men 
preoccupied  with  fanatical  passion,  full  of  a  Mosaic  millen- 
nium about  to  open,  dreaming  of  the  visible  appearance 
of  Jehovah,  as  the  Leader  of  their  hosts  to  world-wide 
empire,  wild  and  demoniac  in  their  hatred  of  all  races 
except  their  own,  as  accursed  of  God  from  eternity — 
thinking  this  insane  pride  and  malignity  zeal  for  God  and 
religion,  though  the  most  elementary  morality  had  evapo- 
rated from  their  life  and  conduct, — could  bave  no  response 
in  their  hearts  to  the  invitations  of  the  humble  preachers 
of  the  new  faith,  intensely  unpopular  as  these  obscure 
sectaries  and  their  still  more  obscure  and  not  numerous 
adherents  must  have  been,  from  their  passive  indifference 
to  the  national  hopes  and  aspirations,  cherished  with  a 
frenzied  enthusiasm  by  all  Jews  over  the  world. 

Nor  was  the  loyalty  of  the  Christians  themselves  less 
jeopardised  by  the  frightful  political  tempest  of  the  times. 
We  see,  indeed,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  how  sorely 
tempted  many  of  them  were,  to  renounce  the  new  "  Way  " 
altogether,  and  go  back  to  Judaism,  and  we  may  imagine 
how  hard  it  was,  amidst  the  scenes  around  them,  for  even 
the  most  loyal  to  cultivate  those  quiet  and  cloistered 
graces  which  Christianity  demands.  The  spread  of  the 
"  Faith,"  in  short,  must  have  been  almost  wholly  arrested, 
and  even  the  maintenance  of  the  little  churches  imperilled. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  book  which 
stands  last  in  the  New  Testament — The  Revelation  of  St. 
John,  the  "  Theologian,"  or  "  Divine  " — was  written.     The 


144  BEFORE   THE   STOEM 

cliurches  to  which  it  was  originally  addressed  were  seven 
of  those  on  the  western  side  of  Asia  Minor ;  their  moral, 
spiritual,  and  doctrinal  corruptions  being  the  subject  of 
special  animadversion  in  its  opening  chapter.  But  the 
Jewish  element  in  the  Christian  community  everywhere 
was  then  so  potent,  directly  and  indirectly,  that  the  affairs 
of  Palestine  were  of  supreme  interest  to  all  the  churches. 
The  expectation  of  the  Eeturn  of  Christ  was  linked  with 
the  fate  of  Jerusalem,  for  He  had.  Himself,  connected  its  fall 
with  the  revelation  of  the  new  Kingdom  He  was  to  set 
up.^  That  He  was  to  come  personally,  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  to  close  the  existing  economy  and  introduce  His 
Messianic  kingdom,  was  a  first  article  of  faith,  and  every 
thing  seemed  to  point  to  this  as  imminent.  All  that  con- 
cerned the  Holy  City  and  the  Holy  Land,  passed  from  mouth 
to  mouth,  with  inexplicable  rapidity,  through  the  churches 
in  all  the  provinces,  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  empire. 
Jerusalem,  restored  to  inconceivable  glory,  was  to  be  the 
metropolis  of  the  new  Kingdom  of  God,  under  the  Mes- 
siah, their  risen  and  exalted  Lord,  who  would  reign  in  it, 
over  all  the  world.  It  was,  indeed,  the  most  sacred  spot 
upon  earth  to  Jew  and  Christian  alike,  as  the  seat  of  that 
Temple,  in  whose  Holy  of  Holies,  Jehovah  sat  throned 
between  the  cherubim,  as  the  Almighty  Guardian  of  His 
people,  and  of  the  sacred  edifice  itself,  which  even  the 
Christians  fondly  believed,  in  the  face  of  Christ's  words, 
would  survive,  uninjured,  whatever  ruin  might  overtake  the 
city.  Nor  was  the  anticipated  fate  of  heathen  Eome  less 
eagerly  in  the  thoughts  of  both  Jews  and  Christians,  in  all 
parts;  the  impending  judgments  of  God  on  it  for  its  Sodom- 
like iniquity  being  expected  by  the  latter  to  accompany 

^  Matt,  xxiv.,  XXV. 


BEFORE  THE  STORM  145 

or  even  precede  the  descent  of  Christ  from  heaven,  while 
the  Jew  looked  as  confidently  for  the  appearance  of  his 
own  Messiah,  to  overthrow  and  destroy  it.  But  the 
simplicity  and  spirituality  of  the  churches,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul  and  Peter,  had  sadly  decayed, 
amidst  this  unhealthy  excitement ;  wild  and  even  im- 
moral teaching  having  spread  so  widely,  at  least  in  the 
churches  of  Lesser  Asia,  as  to  threaten  their  very  exist- 
ence as  Christian  communities,  and,  to  expose  the  guilty 
to  disastrous  judgments  at  the  coming  of  Christ,  before 
whose  presence  they  could  not  hope  to  stand,  unless  they 
repented  and  returned  to  their  first  works.  The  lessons 
of  the  Apocalyptic  writing  now  sent  them,  to  calm  their 
natural  cravings  for  light  on  the  immediate  future,  and 
to  rouse  them  to  a  purer  faith  and  a  worthier  life  in 
anticipation  of  Christ's  speedy  coming,  are  the  engrossing 
subject  of  our  next  chapters. 


IV.  K 


AFTER  VI 

AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   NERO 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Nero  was  popular  with  the  mob. 
even  after  his  death ;  so  little  weight  had  his  crimes  and 
vices  with  the  debased  proletariat  of  Eome.  He  might  be 
execrated,  as  he  deserved,  by  all  men  of  principle  and  re- 
spectability, but  the  populace  clung  fondly  to  his  memory  ; 
some  doubtless  from  instinctive  loyalty  to  the  last  o:  the 
Caesars,  who,  amidst  all  his  faults,  had  not  been  without 
showy  qualities ;  others,  simply  because  no  one  had  ever 
gratified  them  so  lavishly  with  the  spectacles  in  which 
they  delighted.  His  democratic  familiarity  with  the 
million  had,  besides,  won  him  favour,  for  had  he  not  been 
seen  mingling  in  the  crowd ;  sitting  down  with  them  at 
meals ;  eating,  like  them,  in  the  theatre  ?  And  had  he 
not  hated  the  Senate,  and  the  nobles,  who  were  so  haughty 
and  contemptuous  towards  the  masses  ?  The  boon  com- 
panions who  had  surrounded  him  were  at  least  courteous. 
His  guards  remained  permanently  fond  of  him,  and  for  a 
long  time,  his  tomb  was  constantly  decorated  with  fresh 
flowers,  and  his  bust  set  up  on  the  rostra  in  the  forum,  by 
unknown  hands.^  Otho  and  Vitellius  both  made  him 
their  model,  to  win  favour  with  the  Eomans,  and  for  a 
generation  men  eagerly  dreamed  he  was  still  alive,  and 
would  come  back  again  to  his  own. 

^  Sueton.  "Nero,"  20,  22,  56,  57  ;  Tac.  Hist.,  i.  4,  5.  16,  78  ;  ii.  95. 

14G 


AFTEK  THE  DEATH  OF  NERO  147 

His  known  visionary  talk  of  going  to  Syria  and  Egypt, 
and  there  enacting  the  Oriental  sultan,  had,  indeed,  pre- 
pared the  way  for  this  fancy,  even  while  he  was  alive. 
It  was  hard  to  believe  that  the  divine  race  of  Julius  had 
passed  so  suddenly  and  so  secretly  away.  The  witnesses 
of  his  death  were  few  in  number.  Only  three  women 
devoted  to  him  had  concerned  themselves  with  his  burial. 
Icelus  was  almost  the  only  one  who  had  seen  his  corpse. 
It  was  easy  to  think  that  some  other  body  had  been  called 
his.  Some  maintained  that  his  remains  had  never  been 
found ;  others  affirmed  that  the  stab  in  his  throat  had 
been  bandaged  and  healed.  The  belief  thus  spread,  that 
he  had  fled  to  Parthia,  or  to  Armenia,  the  king  of  which 
he  had  feted  in  A.D.  66.  There,  he  was  plotting  a  restora- 
tion, and  would  soon  return,  at  the  head  of  the  dreaded 
cavalry  of  the  East,  to  take  revenge  on  his  enemies.  His 
statues  began  to  be  raised  again,  and  even  edicts  were 
published  in  his  name.^  To  the  Christians  all  this  was 
an  abiding  terror,  for  they  looked  on  the  dead  emperor 
as  the  monster  he  really  was.  Nor  was  their  alarm  les- 
sened by  the  fact  that  several  false  Neros  appeared  at 
intervcls,  keeping  up  the  illusion  that  he  would  indeed 
return. 

Meanwhile  troubles  in  the  empire  increased.  Gaul, 
under  Vindex,  had  revolted,  to  the  high  delight  of  all 
Jews  and  Christians,  who  supposed  that  the  empire  would 
now  disappear  with  the  last  of  the  C^sars,  and  that 
Galba,  the  consul  in  Spain,  who  had  been  hailed  there  as 
emperor  by  his  soldiers,  and  VitelUus,  who  was  shortly 
after  acclaimed  by  his  troops  to  the  same  perilous  honour 
in  Germany,  would  be  content  to  be  independent  rulers 

1  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  8  ;  Sneton.  "Nero,"  13,  30,  47,  57. 


148  APTER   THE   DEATH   OF   NERO 

in  these  two  provinces.  In  Judaea,  the  Gaulish  rising 
was  welcomed  as  the  counterpart  of  their  own,  but  nothing 
could  be  more  groundless.  Judasa  alone  wished  to  break 
up  the  mighty  federation  which  ensured  peace  and  pros- 
perity to  the  world  at  large.  All  the  lands  bordering  the 
Mediterranean,  once  enemies,  were  only  too  glad  to  live 
as  one  great  brotherhood.  Even  Gaul  only  wished  the 
overthrow  of  unworthy  emperors,  and  some  necessary 
reforms.  There  was  nothing  in  the  Eoman  system  resem- 
bling the  personal  characteristics  of  Oriental  empires, 
which  had  accustomed  the  Jews  to  see  nations,  subjugated 
for  a  time,  become  once  more  separate  states  on  the  death 
of  the  supreme  ruler,  as  had  so  often  happened  in  Assyria, 
Babylon,  and  Parthia,  and  as  had  followed  the  death  of 
Alexander. 

But  the  dreadful  excitement  of  the  times  was  long  in 
subsiding.  A  year  and  a  half  passed  before  the  rival 
competitors  for  Nero's  place  had  given  way  to  Vespasian, 
the  founder  of  the  Flavian  dynasty.  The  whole  empire 
was  in  breathless  unrest.  The  better  classes  at  Eome 
still  trembled  at  the  recollection  of  Nero ;  Judaea  was  mad 
with  fanaticism ;  the  Christians  everywhere  cowered  at 
the  thought  of  the  awful  slaughter  of  their  brethren,  in 
the  great  massacre  of  A.D.  64,  and  the  very  earth,  as  if  in 
sympathy,  appeared  to  be  torn  by  unwonted  convulsions. 
To  understand  the  Apocalypse,  this  phenomenal  state  of 
things,  affecting  the  minds  of  all  men,  must  be  remem- 
bered. 

In  the  interregnum  between  Nero  and  Vespasian,  from 
which  the  Apocalypse  dates,  the  portents  which  so  greatly 
move  superstitious  ages  like  those  of  antiquity,  were  ex- 
ceptionally strange  and  numerous.    Something  mysterious 


AFTER   THE   DEATH   OF   NERO  149 

seemed  in  the  air.  The  interpretation  of  omens  was  a 
brisk  trade  in  those  days ;  many  Jews,  Syrians,  and  other 
children  of  Western  Asia,  and  also  many  Egyptians, 
choosing  this  easy  way  of  plundering  the  ignorant.  Nor 
did  even  the  higher  classes  disdain  to  seek  their  worthless 
help  ;  for  Babilus,  the  astrologer,  had  been  in  fatally  high 
favour  with  Nero,  while  Otho  and  Vitellius  were  wholly 
under  the  influence  of  such  designing  charlatans,  and 
even  Vespasian  allowed  one  to  make  show  of  casting  out 
a  devil  before  him.^  Monstrous  births  were  regarded  as 
weighty  indications  of  the  future :  one  which  had  two 
heads  being  supposed  to  indicate  a  different  emperor 
by  each  of  them,  and  a  pig  said  to  have  been  farrowed 
with  the  claws  of  a  hawk  was  held  a  perfect  symbol  of 
Nero.^  Meteors  and  other  signs  in  the  sky  made  men 
hold  their  breath  ;  for  in  ages  when  all  motion  was  thought 
to  indicate  life,  everything  in  nature,  from  the  grass  to 
the  stars,  was  regarded  either  as  presided  over  by  some 
special  divinity,  of  whose  purposes  towards  men  it  might 
be  made  to  give  indications,  or,  among  Jews  and  Christians, 
as  having  an  angel  of  its  own,  who  was  used  by  God  to 
reveal  the  future  through  it.  Thus,  in  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
we  have  angels  for  each  department  of  creation,  just  as, 
among  polytheistic  nations,  we  have  gods  and  goddesses 
of  higher  and  lower  grades,  inhabiting  the  rivers,  the 
seas,  the  trees,  the  air,  the  clouds,  the  stars ;  acting 
indeed  as  personifications  of  all  these,  and  of  every  other 
phenomenon  of  nature.  All  around,  men  saw  the  mys- 
terious principle  of  life  springing  forth  from  the  womb, 

1  Sueton.  "Nero,"  36,  40,  46  ;  "Otho,"  4,  6,  7,  8  ;  "  Vitellius,"    14  ; 
"Vespasian,  *  5,  7,  23  ;  "Hours  with  the  Bible,"  Gospds,  202. 
^  Tac.  Annal.  xii.   64. 


150  AFTER  THE   DEATH   OF  NERO 

the  egg,  or  the  seed,  and  hence,  among  barbarous  races, 
even  each  plant  had  its  spirit.  Every  page  in  the  classics 
discloses  the  abject  fear  in  which  imaginary  "  signs " 
in  the  most  trivial  incidents  of  everyday  existence  held 
men  of  all  ranks,  awed  by  such  fancies.  Hence  such 
appearances  as  falling  stars,  comets,  and  eclipses,  were 
supposed  to  note  the  fate  of  nations  and  of  kings.  In  -the 
aurora  borealis,  men  saw  crowns,  swords,  and  blood ;  the 
clouds  took  the  form,  in  the  heated  imagination,  of  battles 
and  warlike  hosts,  or  of  divine  or  monstrous  forms. 
Bloody  rain,  rivers  flowing  back  or  turned  to  blood,  and 
terrible  results  of  thunderbolts,  were  the  themes  of  fre- 
quent rumour.  In  the  feverish  times  after  Nero's  death,  all 
these,  and  countless  other  incidents,  to  which  we  should 
now  attach  no  suspicion  of  ominous  import,  agitated  the 
world  at  large. 

Nor  was  it  strange,  in  such  a  superstitious  age.  Civil 
wars  raged.  In  Gaul  the  destruction  of  life  was  terrible. 
In  Galilee,  there  was  a  war  almost  of  extermination.  In 
Northern  Italy,  the  fields  where  Otho  and  Vitellius  were 
successively  crushed,  long  smelt  of  slaughter.  The  hideous 
massacres  of  the  prisoners  taken  in  these  victories,  forced, 
as  they  were,  to  fight,  by  thousands,  in  the  amphitheatres, 
for  the  amusement  of  the  populace,  were  appalling.  The 
predictions  of  Christ  as  to  wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  and 
wonders  in  nature,  as  the  heralds  of  His  return,  thus 
apparently  realised,  could  not  fail  to  engross  the  thoughts 
of  the  trembling  Christians  of  all  parts.^ 

Famine  added  its  horrors  to  all  the  rest.  In  the  year 
68  the  corn  supply  from  Alexandria  came  short  of  the 
wants  of  Kome,  and  in  the  spring  of  69  there  was  a  great 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  6-8 ;  Mark  xiii.  7-9  ;  Luke  xxi.  9-11. 


AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   NERO  151 

iuundation  of  the  lower  city,  from  the  Tiber.  In  65  came 
a  terrible  pestilence ;  thirty  thousand  dying  in  the  autumn 
alone.  In  the  same  year,  Lyons  was  almost  burned  down, 
and  Campania  was  devastated  by  waterspouts  and  cyclones, 
to  the  very  gates  of  Rome.  A  sudden  irruption  of  the 
sea,  a  little  later,  covered  Lycia  with  lamentation.  As  in 
the  fourteenth  century  of  our  own  era — that  of  the  Black 
Death — the  course  of  nature  seemed  to  be  wholly  dis- 
ordered. To  use  the  words  of  Seneca,  "  The  world  itself 
was  shaken,  and  the  fear  and  even  consternation  of  all 
men  was  intense."  ^ 

Unprecedented  volcanic  and  seismic  phenomena,  more- 
over, filled  the  cup  of  trembling  to  overflow.  Vesuvius, 
which  was  soon  to  break  out  in  its  awful  eruption  of  79, 
showed  signs  of  unwonted  activity  for  years  before.  In 
February  AD.  63  Pompeii  was  almost  swallowed  up  by  an 
earthquake ;  a  great  part  of  the  population  hesitating  to 
go  back  to  their  shattered  homes.  The  groups  of  small 
craters  in  the  region  known  as  the  Phlegrean  Fields,  west 
of  Naples,  were  smoking.  Everywhere  round  Naples,  the 
volcanic  district  still  marked  by  the  Solfatara,  the  Acheru- 
sian  Lake,  and  many  small  extinct  volcanoes,  was  a  terror 
to  an  age  which  looked  on  hot  springs,  gaping  cracks,  huge 
caverns,  deadly  fumes  of  miasma,  hollow  subterranean 
sounds,  or  gaseous  and  sulphurous  exhalations,  as  signs  of 
the  infernal  kingdoms  being  underneath.  The  Jew  or  the 
Christian  who  landed  at  Puteoli,  on  his  way  to  Eome, 
thought  he  saw  the  mouth  of  hell  in  this  region,  which  even 
its  own  people  regarded  as  veiling  the  terrors  of  the  lower 
world.     Its  fumes  rising  from  the  soil,  its  constant  quiver- 

1  Suet.  "Nero,"  39,  45  ;  "  Otho,"  8  ;  Tacit.  Ann.  xii.  43  ;  xvi.  13  ;  xv.  37  ; 
Seneca,  Qucest.  Nat,  vi.  1. 


152  AFTEK  THE  DEATH  OF  NERO 

ing,  and  above  all,  the  flaming  gases  and  hollow  footing  of 
the  Solfatara,  with  its  caves  steaming  and  smoking,  and  its 
scalding  mineral  beds  within  them,  were,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Hebrew,  the  very  throat  of  the  abyss,  to  be  compared 
only  to  the  horrors  which  had  burst  out  at  Sodom  and 
Gomorrha,  in  judgment  on  the  iniquities  of  the  Canaanites. 
Nor  could  such  a  landscape  fail  to  be  reflected  in  visions 
like  those  of  their  apocalyptic  literature. 

When,  moreover,  the  Jew  or  the  Christian  turned  to  the 
morals  of  the  local  population,  his  horror  would  intensify 
the  gloomiest  forebodings.  Bai^,  famous  for  its  hot 
springs,  and  as  the  fashionable  watering-place  of  Eonie, 
lived  only  for  pleasure  and  dissipation.  It  and  the  other 
towns  round  the  Gulf  of  Naples  were,  indeed,  the  very 
hotbeds  of  folly,  crime,  and  debauchery.  The  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  Baise  had  seen  the  insane  freak  of  Cali- 
gula's bridge  over  them,  with  its  scenic  displays  of  mili- 
tary processions,  and  they  hid  under  their  soft  blue  the 
corpses  of  countless  victims  slain  in  the  naval  battles 
ordered  by  that  emperor  and  by  Claudius,  as  an  item  in  the 
programme  of  their  fetes.  No  wonder  that  the  Book  of 
Enoch  should  say  ^  that  "  the  fallen  angels  live  in  a  subter- 
ranean valley,  in  the  West,  near  the  mountain  of  metals  " 
(Vesuvius),  "  which  is  filled  with  waves  of  fire ;  exhales 
the  stench  of  sulphur,  sends  forth  boiling  sulphurous 
springs  ( — the  thermal  waters — )  which  cure  diseases,  and 
beside  which  the  kiugs  of  the  earth  give  themselves  up  to 
all  forms  of  indulgence."  It  may  be,  indeed,  that  the  hot 
springs  of  Callirrhoe  on  the  Dead  Sea,  and  the  Valley  of 
Hinnom  at  Jerusalem,  were  primarily  intended  by  this 
picture  of  natural  horrors,  but  "  the  mountain  in  the  West " 

Book  of  Enoch  Ixvii.  4-13. 


AFTER  THE  DEATH   OF  NERO  153 

seems  rather  to  point  to  Italy.  Nothing  could  have  been 
grander  than  the  mansions  and  villas  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Naples,  or  the  public  baths,  the  elaborate  rock 
excavations  for  which,  one  still  sees  in  the  so-called  baths 
of  Nero,  on  the  road  to  Pozzuoli.  That  we  should  find 
imagery  in  the  Apocalypse,  suggested  by  such  a  locality 
and  such  accessories  to  it,  is  natural,  in  an  age  when  Jews 
moved  from  land  to  land,  incessantly.  To  the  Christian 
moralist,  men,  as  before  the  Flood,  were  madly  blind  to 
the  signs  of  the  wrath  preparing  for  them,  or,  like  the 
people  of  the  doomed  Cities  of  the  Plain,  were  revelling  in 
vice,  over  the  very  flames  of  the  pit  which  was  to  yawn 
for  them,  and  swallow  them  up  for  ever. 

But  Italy  was  not  the  only  land  visited,  in  those 
years,  by  extraordinary  physical  convulsions.  Asia  Minor 
was  shaken  by  repeated  earthquakes,  causing  constant 
rebuilding  of  its  cities,  more  or  less  entirely.  Tralles,  on 
the  great  ©astern  road  from  Ephesus,  had  to  learn  to  make 
its  houses  mutually  support  each  other :  so  frequent  were 
the  subsidences  of  the  ground.  In  the  year  17,  fourteen 
towns  had  been  destroyed  in  the  district  east  of  Ephesus, 
between  the  mountain  ranges  Tmolus  and  Messogis,  both 
of  which  run  west,  almost  to  the  once  great  city.  There 
had  never  before  been  such  a  catastrophe ;  its  appalling 
magnitude  not  only  leading  Tiberius  to  give  direct  as- 
sistance to  the  ruined  communities,  but  calling  forth  the 
active  liberality  of  the  empire  at  large.  Philadelphia, 
the  seat  of  one  of  the  seven  churches — on  the  north-east 
slopes  of  Tmolus,  and  less  than  thirty  miles  south-east  of 
Sardis,  the  seat  of  another  of  the  seven — was  exceptionally 
subject  to  earthquake  shocks ;  often  very  severe.  From 
the  year  59,  almost  each  year  had  been  marked  by  some 


154  AFTER  THE   DEATH   OF   NERO 

disaster.  Tho  valley  of  the  Lycus,  which  opens  into 
that  of  the  Meander,  through  which  the  great  eastern 
road  stretched  under  the  shadow  of  its  glorious  moun- 
tains, was  the  focus  of  terrible  seismic  activity ;  the  two 
cities  of  Laodicea  and  Colossse,  looking  towards  each  other 
across  the  valley,  being  overwhelmed  in  the  year  60 ;  the 
latter  remaining  comparatively  ruined ;  though  the  former 
had  become,  once  more,  rich  and  splendid,  ten  years  after, 
when  one  of  the  seven  epistles  was  addressed  to  the 
church  in  it.  The  limited  triangle  in  which  these  com- 
munities  were  to  be  found — about  eighty  miles  from 
Ephesus  in  the  south,  to  Pergamos  in  the  north,  and 
only  about  twenty  miles  wider  along  its  base — east  and 
west — between  Ephesus  and  Laodicea, — was  not  more  than 
one  hundred  and  forty  on  its  third  side,  from  south-east 
to  north-west.  This  region  of  glorious  hills,  lofty  shadowy 
mountains,  and  sweeping  valleys  of  passing  fertility  and 
beauty,  watered  by  many  streams — a  very  paradise  for 
climate  and  loveliness, — was,  in  the  years  when  the  Apoca- 
lypse was  written,  the  scene  of  constant  and  often  appal- 
ling convulsions  of  nature.  Can  it  be  doubted  that  the 
Christian  population,  and  the  writer  of  the  Apocalypse 
himself,  in  an  age  which  saw  the  finger  of  God  in  every 
incident  in  the  heavens  or  earth,  would  view  these  awful 
phenomena,  as  designed  by  Him  to  rouse  His  people  and 
warn  His  enemies,  or  that  they  would  colour  their  thoughts 
and  blend  with  their  visions  and  forebodings  ?  It  seemed 
as  if  the  world  at  large  were  in  travail,  waiting  for  the 
manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  Greece,  Asia  Minor, 
and  Italy,  sent  news,  ever  and  anon,  of  additional  calami- 
ties. One  day,  the  island  of  Thera,  seventy  miles  north 
of  Crete,  burst  out  into  continued  volcanic  eruptions;  on 


AFTER  THE   DEATH   OF  NERO  155 

another,  they  heard  that  Antioch  in  Syria  was  unremit- 
tently  shaken  by  earthquakes.  Everything  seemed  to 
speak  of  the  approaching  descent  of  the  Lord  in  fiery 
clouds,  to  take  vengeance  on  a  guilty  world,  and  to  found 
His  new  unsuffering  kingdom,  in  a  regenerated  earth 
canopied  by  new  heavens.  If  even  St.  Paul  was  fain  to 
cry  "  Maranatha  " — "  Our  Lord  comes,"  how  much  more 
would  this  be  the  thought  of  the  poor  and  oppressed 
Christians,  living  in  such  a  disjointed  and  godless  time ! 

The  excitement  in  the  half- Oriental  churches  of  Asia 
Minor  was  even  greater  than  elsewhere,  from  the  con- 
stitutional temperament  of  such  a  population.  Colossas, 
to  which  St.  Paul  had  sent  an  epistle  nearly  twenty  years 
before,  had  been  shattered  by  the  earthquake  of  the  year 
60,  by  which  Laodicea,  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley  of 
the  Lycus,  had  been  almost  as  sorely  injured.  But  there 
was  a  third  city,  Hierapolis,  on  the  same  side  of  the  valley 
as  Laodicea,  and  in  sight  of  it,  which,  though  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  a  strangely  volcanic  centre,  had  ap- 
parently escaped  untouched.^  Thither,  we  may  suppose, 
the  brethren  at  Colossal  betook  themselves,  when  their 
town  was  overthrown.  Indeed,  if  the  catastrophe  was 
like  one  of  which  I  saw  the  results  at  Scio,  twelve  years 
ago,  a  population  too  poor,  it  would  seem,  or  too  alarmed, 
to  rebuild  their  homes,  would  be  glad  to  move  to  such  a 
refuge  as  Hierapolis  offered.  Inscriptions  still  existing 
strengthen  the  belief  that  both  they  and  the  local  Jews 
settled  there,  for  we  read  in  these,  of  annual  distributions 
to  workmen's  unions,  at  the  "  Feast  of  Unleavened  Bread  ' 
and  at  the  "  Feast  of  Pentecost."     Nor  do  charitable  in- 

^  For  a  description  of  Colossje  and  Hierapolis  see  Geikie's  "St.  Paiil," 
in  "  Hours  with  the  Bible,"  New  Testament  Series,  vol.  ii.  '69S  S.,  i\7. 


156  AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   NERO 

stitutions,  mutual  help  associations  in  the  different  trades, 
orphanages,  creches  for  taking  charge  of  children  when 
their  mothers  were  out  at  work,  appear  to  have  been  any- 
where so  numerous  or  flourishing,  though  Philadelphia 
also  abounded  in  these  kindly  organisations.^  Yet  guilds 
of  workmen  like  those  of  our  Middle  Ages,  were  a  promi- 
nent feature  in  the  social  life  of  nearly  all  the  rich  cities 
of  "Asia"  and  of  Phrygia,  so  that  their  existence  does 
not  necessarily  prove  the  presence  of  Jews  or  Christians. 
Striking  to  say,  by  the  way,  even  slaves  were  gladly  wel- 
comed into  these  fraternities,  so  that  there  was  something 
of  recognised  human  brotherhood,  even  in  these  times, 
outside  the  Christian  fold.  Indeed,  Hierapolis  boasted 
of  being  the  birthplace  of  the  slave  Epictetus,  a  grown 
man  when  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  and  famous  for 
ever  as  a  lofty  moralist,  though  a  pagan.^ 

But  whether  the  refuge  of  the  Colossians  or  not,  Hiera- 
polis had  the  special  honour  of  being  the  home  of  one 
who  had  seen  our  Lord — the  deacon,  or  perhaps  we  might 
call  him,  the  Apostle  Philip,  since  the  Philip  of  Hierapolis 
is  said  to  have  had  four  daughters  who  prophesied,  which 
is  told  us  also  of  the  Philip  of  the  Acts,^  while  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  suppose  that  the  Apostle  Philip  *  could  have  been 
thus  favoured  as  well,  and  equally  so  to  imagine  that  the 
Philip  of  Hierapolis  should  have  been  honoured  as  one  of 
the  apostles,  as  he  undoubtedly  was,  if  he  had  been  only 
a  deacon.  One  of  the  four  daughters  appears  to  have  died 
before  Philip  removed  from  Csesarea  to  Asia  Minor,  but 
two  of  the  others  remained  unmarried  and  died  in  ex- 

^  See  facts  and  references  in  Renan's  L'Antechrist,  340. 

2  See  Geikie'r,  "St.  Paul,"  vol.  ii.  417. 

*  Acts  xxi.  9.  ^  Matt.  X.  3. 


AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  NERO  157 

treme  old  age,  while  the  third  became  a  wife,  and  died  at 
Ephesus.  Almost  all  we  know  of  the  family  is  told  us  by 
Eusebius,^  though  some  traditions  are  found  elsewhere. 
Papias,  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  about  the  year  139,  had  met 
the  daughters,  who  all  prophesied,  and  though  he  did  not 
see  Philip,  he  learned  much  from  these  ladies  respecting 
him  and  the  other  Apostles,  and  their  apostolic  contem- 
poraries. They  especially  spoke  of  Joseph,  known  better 
as  Barnabas,  saying  that  he  had  drunk  poison  without 
suffering  any  evil  effects.  Miracles,  indeed,  were  habi- 
tually wrought,  they  said,  by  their  father,  and  they  even 
spoke  of  having  seen  a  person  raised  from  the  dead  by 
him.  That  St.  John,  also,  settled  in  "  Asia  "  is  an  accepted 
tradition,  but  he  could  only  have  come  to  it  after  St. 
Paul  had  finally  left  it,  else  there  would  assuredly  have 
been  allusions  to  the  beloved  disciple,  by  the  Apostle  of 
the  Gentiles,  in  one  or  other  of  his  Epistles.^ 

The  troubles  in  Judaea,  driving  out  all  who  could  leave 
the  country,  added  to  the  already  large  number  of  Jews 
in  the  rich  district  of  Asia  Minor  which  was  the  seat 
of  the  seven  churches,  bringing,  also,  no  doubt,  some  in- 
crease to  the  number  of  local  Christians.  Among  these 
may  well  have  been  the  future  author  of  the  Apocalypse, 
for  it  is  exceptional  for  its  rabbinical  learning,  though 
the  purity  of  its  Greek  would  seem  to  mark  it  as 
the  production  of  one  born  among  a  Greek  -  speaking 
population,  and  moving  in  a  circle  able  to  give  him  a 
liberal  education.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  our 
thinking  of  a  foreign-born  Jew,  brought  up  in  Western 
Asia,  and  thus  learning  Greek  idiomatically,  in  the  rheto- 

Euseb.  iii.  30,  31,  84,  37,  39  ;  v.  17,  24. 
2  Euseb.  iii.  23. 


158  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  NFRO 

rical  schools  of  Smyrna  and  Pergamos — being  sent,  like 
Paul,  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  becoming,  also  like  him, 
an  accomplished  rabbi,  though  afterwards  embracing 
Jewish  -  Christianity  ;  the  Apocalypse  showing  that  its 
author  was  as  strongly  Jewish  in  his  sympathies,  as 
St.  Paul,  in  matters  of  ritual,  was  the  opposite. 

Under  the  leading  of  such  apostles  and  apostolic  men, 
the  churches  founded  by  St.  Paul  or  his  co-workers, — with 
others,  perhaps,  founded  by  men  more  of  the  Jewish- 
Christian  section, — kept  on  their  course,  not  without 
abundant  trouble  from  outside,  and  amidst  decay  as  well 
as  advance  in  spiritual  life.  Doubtless  the  disputes  of 
the  two  great  parties,  of  conservative  and  liberal  ten- 
dencies, that  is,  of  Judaisers  and  those  who  followed  the 
teachings  of  St.  Paul  in  reference  to  the  Mosaic  law, 
were,  at  times,  only  too  keen  and  bitter  ;  for  theological 
differences,  however  small  or  unessential,  kindle  pas- 
sions as  fierce  as  they  are  unworthy.  Things  had  long 
been  very  trying  to  the  Christians,  but  as  years  passed, 
they  had  greatly  changed  for  the  worse.  In  earlier  days, 
their  relations  with  the  imperial  authorities  had  been 
marked  by  a  contemptuous  toleration,  except  when  they 
might  be  dragged  before  the  courts  on  some  charge  of 
breaking  the  peace,  raised  against  them  by  the  Jews. 
But  a  wide-spread  hatred  of  Christianity  had  gradually 
sprung  up  among  the  great  heathen  population  of  all 
classes,  mainly  from  its  protest  against  not  a  few  of  the 
most  cherished  usages  and  public  and  private  amuse- 
ments of  the  heathen  life  around.  They  had,  in  fact, 
come  to  be  spoken  of  as  the  enemies  of  the  human  race — 
that  is,  of  the  Eoman  world;  all  outside  which  were  of 
no  account,  as  being  only  barbarians,  or  enemies.     They 


AFTER   THE   DEATH   OF   NERO  159 

were,  further,  charged  with  disturbing  society,  and  intro- 
ducing notions  which  threatened  to  undermine  it,  with 
causing  divisions  in  families,  setting  children  against 
parents,  and  parents  against  children,  and  with  bringing 
this  about  by  abhorred  and  illegal  magical  arts ;  the 
hideous  punishments  inflicted  on  them  by  Nero  being 
those  appointed  for  the  practice  of  such  spells  and  rites.^ 
These  infamous  practices,  it  was  further  held,  the  Chris- 
tians carried  out,  in  order  to  commit  more  safely  specially 
abominable  crimes.  Such  vague  charges  were  necessarily, 
in  a  time  of  such  excitement,  very  easily  believed.  That 
the  Christians  shunned  the  circus  and  the  theatre,  that 
they  spoke  of  idols  as  evil  demons,  and  held  aloof  from 
the  thousand  recognitions  of  the  popular  religion  in  public 
and  private  feasts,  processions,  and  much  else,  was  enough 
to  make  them  be  abhorred,  as  conspirators  against  the 
society  of  the  day,  and  against  the  empire  itself,  with 
which  these  customs  were  bound  up.  Yet  the  only  ex- 
planation of  these  appalling  charges,  then  offered  by  their 
enemies,  is  to  the  credit  of  Christianity;  for  it  came  to  be 
supposed  that  a  religion  which  wrought  such  a  wonderful 
reformation  in  its  followers,  and  kindled  in  them  such  an 
enthusiasm  and  loyalty  to  their  faith,  must,  after  all,  be 
inspired,  at  bottom,  by  the  powers  of  evil,  bringing  about 
these  spiritual  changes  by  the  influence  of  unholy  diabolic 
arts.  The  heathen,  like  the  Pharisees,  could  not  deny 
that  devils  were  cast  out,  but,  like  them,  gave  Beelzebub 
the  credit. 


^  Ramsay  quotes  a  sentence  of  PauUus  which  states  that  those  guilty 
of  magic  arts  were  to  suffer  the  extremtst  penalties,  that  is,  to  be  thrown 
to  the  beasts,  or  crucified  :  the  "magi"  themselves  being  burned  alive. — 
Ramsay's  *'  Church  in  the  Roman  Empire,"  236. 


160  AFTER  THE  DEaTH  OF  NERO 

From  all  this  we  may  be  sure  that  the  number  of  Chris- 
tians who  openly  professed,  and  perhaps  taught  their 
faith,  in  their  simple  way,  would  be  much  below  that  of 
those  who,  like  Nicodemus,  for  fear  of  those  round  them, 
kept  their  belief  secret,  showing  no  difference,  in  ordinary 
matters,  from  the  daily  life  of  their  neighbours.  The 
limits  permissible  in  conforming  to  the  usages  of  a  society 
the  very  weft  and  woof  of  which  were  pagan,  was,  from 
the  first,  a-  question  of  great  delicacy ;  for  to  stand  out 
against  every  appearance  of  recognising  idolatry  would 
have  meant  shutting  themselves  out  of  the  world  entirely. 
Such  Christians,  moreover,  as  avoided  rousing  the  irrita- 
tion of  their  heathen  neighbours,  by  their  zeal,  would  be 
less  likely  to  be  swept  into  the  net  of  persecution  than 
their  bolder  brethren,  and  thus  the  number  who  lived 
undisturbed  may  have  been  greater  than  we  suppose. 

The  hostile  action  against  the  new  faith  introduced  by 
Nero,  to  cover  his  own  infamy  in  connection  with  the  burn- 
ing of  Eome,  would  thus  have  a  fancied  ground  of  being 
permanently  adopted,  on  the  supposition  only  too  widely 
held,  that  the  safety  of  society  demanded  its  suppression, 
and  this  principle  would  necessarily  form  a  precedent  on 
which  the  prefect  of  the  City,  and,  erelong,  the  governors 
of  all  the  provinces,  would  feel  bound  to  act.  Christians 
were  "  criminals,"  and  to  be  punished  as  such  :  indeed, 
the  days  were  rapidly  coming  when  they  would  be  treated 
as  mere  outlaws — because  they  believed  on  the  abhorred 
"  Name."  The  "  faith  "  had,  apparently,  been  spread,  at 
first,  in  Asia  Minor,  and  perhaps  over  the  West  generally, 
without  exciting  any  public  opposition.  But,  what  with 
the  tumults  raised  by  the  Jews ;  the  ill-will  of  tradesmen 
whose  business  it  injured,  and  the  resentment  of  families 


AFTEE   THE   DEATH   OF  NERO  161 

at  the  conversion  of  some  of  their  members,  a  feeling  of 
general  detestation  gradually  sprang  up,  which  was  only 
too  ready  to  avail  itself  of  the  new  attitude  of  Nero 
towards  Christianity,  assumed  for  personal  reasons. 

The  organised  unity  of  the  new  religion,  which  made 
it,  in  a  measure,  an  empire  within  the  empire,  was,  no 
doubt,  erelong,  added  to  the  reasons  for  imperial  action 
against  it ;  even  the  Jews,  though  greatly  favoured  so 
long  as  Eome  saw  in  them  only  a  unique  nationality 
and  faith,  being  proscribed  as  soon  as  their  insurrection 
had  shown  how  dangerous  they  were  when  acting  to- 
gether. To  break  up  their  combination,  indeed,  Titus 
meditated  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
and  the  building  in  its  place  of  a  temple  to  Jupiter ;  col- 
lecting, for  this  end,  the  voluntary  tax  till  then  paid  by 
all  Jews  for  the  support  of  their  own  sanctuary. 

When  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  the  fixed  policy  of 
the  empire  had  led  to  open  persecution  of  the  Christians, 
even  to  the  length  of  putting  some  of  them  to  death. ^ 
The  scene  of  the  book,  as  I  have  said,  is  laid  wholly  in 
the  region  of  the  seven  churches ;  Eome  being  mentioned 
only  as  the  distant  centre,  to  which,  as  Mommsen  shows, 
the  martyrs  were  sent,  to  undergo  the  violent  death  to 
which  they  had  been  condemned ;  the  imperial  city  thus 
becoming  meetly  symbolised,  as  "  the  woman  drunk  with 
the  blood  of  the  saints  and  witnesses  of  Jesus."  ^  There 
must  indeed,,  even  already,  have  been  a  severe  and  wide- 
spread persecution,  in  which  numbers  died  simply  for  "  the 
Name ; "  no  specific  charge  of  crime  being  alleged  against 
them :  many  passages  in  the  Apocalypse  indicating  this, 
and  showing  that  this  "  tribulation  "  was  no  passing  blast, 

1  Rev.  ii.  13.  ^  Rev.  xvii.  6. 

IV.  L 


162  AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   NERO 

but  had  become  chronic.^  The  martyrs  in  these  evil 
times  suffered,  we  are  told,  as  witnesses  to  "  the  Name ; " 
not  as  guilty  of  alleged  crimes.  The  real  persecutor, 
moreover,  is  clearly  indicated,  by  its  being  implied  that 
he  is  worshipped  as  a  god,  by  "all  that  dwell  upon  the 
earth "  —  a  phrase  equivalent  to  the  Roman  Empire, 
which  embraced  virtually  the  whole  known  world.  The 
Christians  alone  did  not  worship  him.^  The  martyrs, 
moreover,  we  are  told,  were  put  to  death  because  they 
did  not  worship  the  Beast — that  is,  the  Eoman  emperor.^ 
Their  refusal  to  pay  religious  homage  to  him,  and  their 
faithfulness  to  their  own  God,  are  treated  as  parts  of  one 
act ;  the  worship  of  the  emperor  being  the  test,  non-com- 
pliance with  which  implied  fidelity  to  Christ.  Rome  and 
the  Church  were,  in  fact,  to  the  Christians,  irreconcilable 
opposites;  the  imperial  system  being  regarded  by  them 
as  the  incarnation  of  all  evil,  and  the  settled  foe  of  the 
churches,  bent  on  stamping  out  Christianity  altogether. 
No  wish  for  compromise  with  it  is  hinted.  The  only  cry 
is  to  be  avenged.  Nor  is  any  hope  entertained  of  winning 
it  over  to  milder  ideas  respecting  the  new  faith.  The 
conviction,  moreover,  is  not  concealed,  that  Christianity 
was  destined  to  be  supreme  over  all  the  world,  under  the 
Messiah,  now  at  hand ;  the  existing  state  of  things  being 
then  swept  away  in  flaming  fire ;  and  the  expectation  of 
the  fall  of  the  empire,  implied  in  such  anticipations,  must 
have  seemed  enough,  in  itself,  to  justify  any  measures 
of  repression. 

This   confidently-expected   near    overthrow   of    Rome 
was,  indeed,  and  had  been  as  early  as  the  time  when  Paul 

^  Rev.  vi.  9,  11  ;  vii.  14  ;  xii.  11  ;  xiii.  15  ;  xvi.  6  ;  xvii.  6  ;  xviii,  24  ; 
XX.  4,  &c.  ^  Rev.  xiii.  8.  "^  Rev.  xiii.  15. 


AFTER  THE   DEATH   OF   NERO  163 

wrote  to  the  Thessalonians,  the  engrossing  subject  of  all 
Christians  everywhere ;  all  the  letters  of  the  apostles  to 
the  various  churches,  and  the  Apocalypse  itself,  being 
strongly  coloured  by  it.  That  the  Lord  was  at  hand  was 
doubted  by  none,  and  the  accursed  "man  of  sin"  world 
assuredly  perish  in  the  furnace-glow  of  His  wrath,  when 
He  appeared  ;  all  things,  over  and  around,  would  then 
pass  away,  and  a  new  earth  would  be  canopied  by  new 
skies.  This  was  believed  to  be  infallibly  foreshadowed  by 
multiplied  signs  in  nature,  and  by  the  course  of  events 
everywhere.  The  awful  experience  of  64,  when  such  a  mul- 
titude of  their  brethren  had  perished  in  "  the  great  tribula- 
tion "  under  Nero,  after  the  burning  of  Rome,  had  changed 
the  feelings  of  the  survivors  from  the  passive  submission 
to  the  existing  imperial  government,  preached  by  SS. 
Peter  and  Paul,  into  a  more  or  less  active  resistance  to 
whatever,  in  the  demands  of  the  State,  seemed  to  involve 
recognition  of  idolatry.  St.  Paul,  under  Nero,  had  said 
that  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,  and  St. 
Peter  had  required  that  the  Christian  should  submit  him- 
self to  every  ordinance  of  man,  for  the  Lord's  sake,^  but 
the  sight  in  every  city  of  Asia  Minor,  of  the  worship  of 
the  emperors  as  gods,  even  when  they  were  such  monsters 
as  Caligula  and  Nero,  spread  through  all  the  Christian 
communities  a  profound  conviction  that  power,  among 
the  heathen,  was  from  the  devil,  not  from  God.  The 
worship  of  the  reigning  emperor,  with  its  associated  public 
games  and  spectacles,  was  the  great  yearly  festival  over 
all  Lesser  Asia.  To  be  at  the  expense  of  these  costly 
rejoicings  as  the  "Asiarch,"  was  the  highest  ambition 
of  the  very  rich,   and  the  festal  entrance  of  the  tem- 

^  Rom.  xii.  1 ;  Tit.  iii.  1  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  13. 


164  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  NERO 

porary  holder  of  the  dignity,  into  the  city,  in  purple 
robes,  with  a  crown  of  laurel  on  his  brows,  behind  the 
white-robed  temple  boys  swinging  their  smoking  censers, 
was,  to  the  little  world  of  the  Province,  what  the  victory  at 
the  games  and  the  Olympic  crown  had  been  to  the  Greeks. 
In  whatever  town  he  lived,  the  Christian  saw  either  a 
temple  to  the  emperor,  as  Jupiter,  or  statues  of  him  in  the 
streets,  with  altars  before  them,  on  which  loyalty  de- 
manded that  every  passer-by  should  throw  some  grains  of 
incense,  in  homage  to  the  man-god.  What  could  this  be 
but  the  visible  coming  forth  of  Antichrist ;  the  glorifica- 
tion, as  divine,  of  the  persecutor  who  was  drunk  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints  ?  But  an  idol  was,  to  all  Jews  and 
Christians,  a  devil,  and  this  being  so,  the  idol  of  the 
emperor  was  necessarily  a  diabolical  symbol.  He  must, 
therefore,  be  the  Antichrist  foretold  by  Jesus,  and  the 
empire  that  of  the  Evil  One,  which  was  to  perish  when  the 
Lord  appeared.  Did  not  his  worship  as  the  god  of  gods, 
by  all  "  Asia,"  fulfil  the  very  words  of  Paul  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,^  written  fourteen  years  before  the  Apocalypse  was 
sent  abroad,  when  he  said  that  the  day  of  Christ's  descent 
to  earth  in  judgment  would  come  when  there  had  been 
"  first,  a  falling  away  "  among  the  churches  from  the  faith, 
and  from  their  first  love, — as,  alas,  it  was  too  certain 
there  had  been  ;  adding  that  when  this  was  seen,  "  the 
man  of  lawless  sin  would  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition, 
he  that  opposes  and  exalts  himself  above  all  that  is  called 
God  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he  sits  in  the  temple 
of  God,  setting  himself  forth  as  God  ?  "  Had  not  Caligula 
thrust  his  statue  into  the  synagogues,  to  be  worshipped  as 
very  God  ?     Had  he  not  ordered  it  to  be  set  up  even  in  the 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  3,  4. 


AFTER  THE   DEATH   OF  NERO  165 

Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and,  now,  had  not  Nero  "opposed" 
and  "set  himself  above  God  and  His  Christ, and  slain  the 
saints,  whose  blood  cried  from  under  the  altar  for  ven- 
geance, day  and  night,"  and  yet  was  he  not  worshipped  in 
every  city,  as  above  all  gods  ?  The  high-priest  of  each 
city  was  elected  yearly,  by  the  deputies  from  the  different 
towns  of  each  district,  in  their  council  or  parliament, 
and  was  the  great  man  of  the  community,  being  also,  in 
"  Asia,"  as  I  have  said,  the  president  of  the  yearly  fes- 
tival of  emperor-worship,  and  of  its  games  and  spec- 
tacles. As  high-priest,  he  was  naturally  jealous  of  any 
slight  to  the  altars  over  which  he  presided,  and  kept  a 
watchful  eye  on  the  Christians  lest  any  of  them  neglected 
to  offer  incense  before  the  emperor's  statue,  as  that  of  the 
great  local  god ;  throwing  into  prison,  and  bitterly  punish- 
ing the  refractory.^  They  were  thus  exposed,  constantly, 
to  that  tribulation  in  which  John  had  been  their  fellow- 
sufferer,-  and  had  now  against  them,  not  the  mere  hatred 
of  the  Jews,  stirring  up  tumults,  and  spreading  calumnies 
and  false  charges  of  turbulence,  but  the  far  more  alarming 
hostility  of  the  imperial  authorities.  The  powers  of  the 
Pit  were  raging  against  their  Lord,  and  Nero  was  their 
instrument.  Clearly  he  was  the  Antichrist  who  was  to 
be  swept  away,  with  all  his  agents  and  abettors,  at  the 
revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  from  heaven,  with  the  angels 
of  His  power,  in  flaming  fire,  rendering  vengeance  to  them 
that  know  not  God,  and  to  them  that  obey  not  the  Gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus.^  To  the  Christians,  Eome  was  on  the 
brink  of  final  destruction :  the  empire  would  presently  be 
a  hideous  dream  of  the  past.     Nero,  certainly,  was  said  to 

^  Momm.sen's  Geschichte,  v.  321  ff. 
^  Rev.  i.  9.  3  2  Thess.  i.  7.  8. 


166  AFTER   THE   DEATH    OF   NERO 

be  dead,  but  it  was  doubtful  if  he  really  were  so. 
Eumours  of  his  reappearance  were  rife,  and  it  seemed 
reasonable  that  such  a  monster  should  be  reserved  for  a 
fate  more  striking  than  to  die  obscurely.  Surely  he  and 
all  their  enemies — enemies  also  of  their  Lord,  would  be 
openly  destroyed  by  the  breath  of  the  Messiah,  at  His 
coming !  A  false  Nero  had  already  appeared  in  Greece 
and  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  exciting  new  terrors  in 
the  Christians,  and  strange  hopes  in  the  friends  of  the 
missing  Cffisar.^  Some  said  he  was  a  slave  from  Pontus ; 
others,  that  he  was  an  Italian  slave.  He  was  at  least  a 
good  imitation,  for  he  had  Nero's  great  eyes,  his  thick 
head  of  hair,  his  wild  look,  his  fierce  and  theatrical  head, 
and  like  him,  he  played  the  harp  and  sang.  Setting  out 
with  a  troop,  to  reach  Egypt  and  Syria,  that  he  might 
gain  a  footing,  where  Nero  was  expected,  if  really  alive, 
this  adventurer  was  thrown  by  a  storm  on  the  island  of 
Cythnos,  about  thirty  miles  south-east  of  Sunium,  which, 
itself,  is  about  thirty  miles  south-east  of  Athens.  There 
he  increased  his  followers,  by  enrolling  some  soldiers,  on 
their  way  back  from  the  East,  and  launched  out  into  bloody 
executions  of  opponents,  and  into  pillage  of  the  well-to- 
do,  and  arming  of  the  slaves.  The  excitement  grew 
intense.  From  the  closing  weeks  of  68  till  the  impostor 
was  killed  in  the  opening  of  69,  he  filled  the  thoughts  of 
all  Greece  and  Asia  Minor.  Elsewhere,  fierce  partisans 
kept  up  the  report  that  Nero  was  still  alive ;  set  up  his 
statues  again,  and  forced  men  to  honour  them ;  and,  it  is 
said,  even  in  some  cases  coined  money  bearing  his  name. 
Meanwhile,  the  Christians,  especially  in  Asia  Minor, 
were  agonised  by  the  fear  that  they  would  be  required, 

'  Tac.  Hist.  n.  8,  9. 


AFTER   THE   DEATH   OF  NERO  167 

once  more  to  worship  him,  and  at  the  very  least,  be 
socially  ruined ;  shunned  by  all,  and  unable  either  to  buy 
or  sell ;  ^  while  apostasy  would  bring  down  on  them 
the  awful  doom  "  to  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of 
God,  unmixed  in  the  cup  of  His  anger."  ^ 

The  affairs  of  the  empire  added  fuel  to  this  frenzied 
excitement.  Vindex,  the  head  of  the  revolt  of  Gaul,  was 
dead,  but  so  was  Nero,  and  with  him,  as  I  have  said,  the 
line  of  the  Caesars  ended.  Hitherto,  no  one  had  dreamed 
of  contending  with  the  sacred  Julian  blood,  for  the 
honours  of  empire,  but  the  throne  was  now  open  to  the 
strongest  competitor.  Verginius  Eufus,  consul  in  Ger- 
many, proclaimed  emperor  by  his  soldiers,  had  given 
way  to  Galba,  consul  in  Spain,  who  had  been  accepted, 
in  Nero's  place,  by  the  Senate,  and  had  adopted  Piso  as 
his  colleague.  The  favourites  of  Nero  had  been  killed, 
and  obscure  pretenders  to  the  empire  had  shared  the 
same  fate,  but  Galba  also  had  been  murdered,  along  with 
Piso,  after  a  reign  of  little  more  than  six  months.  Otho 
had  succeeded,  but  found  a  rival  in  Vitellius,  and  had  killed 
himself  after  being  defeated  by  him  in  Northern  Italy. 
The  confusion  was  terrible.  On  the  3rd  January  69  the 
legions  of  Germany  had  proclaimed  Vitellius ;  on  the 
10th,  Galba  adopted  Piso;  and  on  the  15th,  Otho  was 
proclaimed  at  Eome,  so  that,  for  some  hours,  there  were 
three  emperors.  Galba  being  killed,  it  was  not  likely 
that  Otho  would  keep  his  giddy  eminence,  and  the  friends 
of  Nero  did  not  hide  their  expectation  that  their  strange 
favourite,  so  much  missed  by  the  populace,  would  soon  be 
once  more  among  them.  Amidst  this  universal  commo- 
tion, the  Apocalypse  appeared  in  Asia  Minor. 

*  Rev.  xiii.  17.  "^  Rev.  xiv.  9. 


168  AFTER  THE  DEATH  OF  NERO 

Books  in  the  symbolical  style  of  Eevelation  had  long 
been  familiar  to  the  Jews  and  Christians.  Ezekiel's 
visions  were  the  first  example,  so  far  as  we  know,  of  this 
new  way  of  clothing  prophecy.  He  had  introduced  colossal 
imagery  taken,  beyond  question,  from  the  special  sights 
around  him  in  Assyria  and  Babylonia,  as  in  his  vision 
of  the  four  cherubim  and  the  four  wheels.^  Zechariah 
had  followed  in  a  similar  style,  in  his  visions  of  the 
mystic  horses,  the  horns,  the  flying  roll,  the  two  women 
with  the  wings  of  storks,  and,  to  name  no  other,  that  of 
the  four  symbolical  chariots.  But  the  Book  of  Daniel 
showed  the  new  fashion  of  composition  in  its  full  develop- 
ment, and  from  that  time,  this  symbolical  writing  had 
become  the  usual  style  of  Jewish  non-canonical  books, 
dealing  with  the  future,  near  or  distant.  The  Book 
of  Enoch,  the  Assumption  of  Moses,  the  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch,  the  Fourth  Book  of  Esdras,  the  Book  of  the 
Twelve  Patriarchs,  the  Book  of  Jubilees,  the  Martyrdom 
of  Isaiah,  the  Psalter  of  Solomon,  and  the  Jewish  Sybil- 
lines,  illustrate  the  school  of  cryptic  writing,  before  and 
after  the  days  of  Nero.  The  Syrian  persecutions  had 
kindled  the  visions  of  one  apocalyptic  writer,  the 
Eoman  occupation  had  produced  another,  the  hateful 
reign  of  Herod  a  third,  and  it  was  apparently  inevitable 
that  the  extraordinary  crisis  following  the  death  of  Nero, 
should  be  similarly  made  the  theme  of  vision  and  sym- 
bolic imagery. 

In  harmony  with  this  natural  course  of  things,  men, 
in  these  awful  days,  found  that  the  Seer  of  Patmos  had 
embodied  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  churches  in  such  a 
writing ;  its  great  theme  being  the  troubles  to  be  poured 

1  Ezek.  i. 


AFTER  THE   DEATH    OF   NERO  1G9 

out  on  the  earth  before  the  manifestation  of  the  Lord ; 
the  comfort  by  which  believers  should  be  sustained  amidst 
all ;  the  awful  destruction  of  Antichrist  and  his  followers 
at  the  coming  of  Christ,  which  it  is  assumed  throughout 
is  close  at  hand ;  and  the  glorious  reign  of  the  faithful, 
with  the  Lord,  in  a  world  purified  by  fire,  from  the  defile- 
ment of  the  wicked.  In  the  revelation  of  their  Lord, 
they  are  taught,  lay  the  hope  of  His  people,  and  hence 
the  book  ends  as  it  opens,  with  earnest  prayer  that  it 
may  not  be  delayed :  its  whole  burden  throughout,  being 
the  divine  story  of  the  "  Revealing  "  of  Jesus,  the  Christ, 
after  the  destruction  of  His  enemies,  and  the  millennial 
glories  of  His  Kingdom  upon  earth  ;  soon,  very  soon,  to 
be  set  up  :  By  its  inspired  author  it  is  called  "  the  Apo- 
calypse or  Manifestation  of  our  Lord ;  "  a  name  of  which 
"  Revelation  "  is  thus  only  the  English  equivalent.  But 
as  our  English  word  is  not  exclusively  a  proper  name, 
I  have,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  retained  the  Greek 
title  of  the  original. 


CHAPTER  VII 

thk  revelation  of  st.  john  the  divine — 
(that  is,  the  theologian) 

In  the  following  study  and  illustration  of  the  Revelation 
of  St.  John,  I  do  not  pretend  to  offer  anything  like  a  pro- 
phetical treatment  of  its  contents,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of 
the  phrase,  but  would  have  it  distinctly  understood  that  I 
confine  myself  wholly  to  an  exposition  of  their  relation 
to  the  churches  to  which  the  book  was  written,  and  to  the 
times  then  passing.  I  leave  the  ground  free  for  another 
course,  by  those  who  prefer  to  give  what  they  may  deem 
the  application  of  the  sacred  text  to  a  wider  historical 
range ;  embracing,  it  may  be,  the  sweep  of  all  past  and 
future  history  of  the  Church  and  the  world. 

"Revelation"  is  expressly  called  by  its  author  a  "pro- 
phecy "  ^  which,  he  tells  us,  refers  to  the  almost  immediate 
future,  for  it  treats,  to  use  his  own  words,  of  ''  things  which 
must  shortly  come  to  pass,"  and  says  that  "  the  time  is  at 
hand."  ^  In  this  respect  it  closely  res.  mbles  the  discourses 
of  our  Lord  on  the  last  things,  in  St.  Matthew,  the  per- 
sonal return  of  Christ  being  represented,  in  both,  as  the  one 
but  all-sufficient  hope  of  His  followers.  It  also  echoes, 
in  this,  the  words  of  the  angels,  at  the  Ascension,  when 
they  comforted  the  disciples  by  the  promise  of  the  Saviour 
coming  back  in  glory ;  and  it  is  no  less  at  one  with  the 

1  Rev.  i.  3.  Rev.  i.  1,  3. 

170 


THE  REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  171 

deepest  and  most  marked  characteristic  of  all  New  Testa- 
ment hope  and  prophecy,  in  pointing,  like  them,  to  the 
personal  Coming  of  Christ  as  that  supreme  event  whicli 
illuminates  the  whole  history  of  Eedemption,  from  His 
resurrection  to  the  final  judgment.^  Christ's  return,  in- 
deed, is  the  burden  of  the  whole  Book,  whether  regarded  as 
"prophecy"  or  "revelation;"  marking,  alike,  its  opening 
and  its  close,^  and  the  cry  for  that  Coming  rises  from  the 
lips  of  the  Church  through  the  whole  of  it,  to  its  end.^  It  is 
indeed,  the  story  of  the  then  immediately  expected  "Eeve- 
lation"  or  *'Eevealing,"  "of  Jesus  Christ,"  given  by  God  to 
John — as,  of  old,  revelations,  or  disclosures  of  the  divine 
purposes,  were  given  to  the  prophets ; — to  "  show  to  His 
servants,"  the  followers  of  Christ,  "the  things  which  must 
shortly  come  to  pass  " — the  judgments  that  must  precede 
the  near  coming  of  the  Lord  and  the  subsequent  glory  of 
His  reign  amidst  His  saints.  The  revealing  of  these  judg- 
ments, then  believed  to  be  impending,  and  of  the  felicity 
that  was  to  follow,  fur  all  who  proved  faithful  to  the  end, 
occupies  the  body  of  the  book  ;  short  epistles  to  the  Asiatic 
churches,  which  form  an  introduction  to  it,  presenting 
only  solemn  warnings  and  counsels,  to  prepaie  them  for 
the  awful  crisis  impending,  and  the  glory  to  come  after, 
in  the  presence  of  their  Lord. 

That  these  epistles  are  addressed  to  the  churches  of  the 
province  of  Asia,  naturally  raises  the  question  as  to  when 
and  where  "  Eevelation  "  was  written,  and  by  whom.  Its 
author  speaks  of  himself*  as  living  in  the  same  region  as 
that  of  the  churches  he  addresses,  and  as  it  has  been, 
since  the  earliest  ages,  associated  with  the  Apostle  John, 

1  1  Pet.  iv.  5  ;  1  Cor.  i.  7  ;  xv.  22  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  14 ;  1  John  ii.  28. 

2  Rev.  i.  7  ;  xxii.  7,  12,  20.  =*  Rev.  xxii.  1,  7,  20.  ^  ^^^  j^  9^ 


172  THE  APOCALYPSE 

whose  later  years  are  believed  to  have  been  spent  at 
Ephesus,  it  inevitably  suggests  itself,  that,  unless  there 
are  strong  groun  is  for  hesitation,  we  may  conclude  the 
"beloved  disciple "  rather  than  any  other  of  the  same 
name,  to  have  written  it. 

Various  expressions  in  the  Apocalypse  itself  appear  to 
show  conclusively  that  it  was  written  before  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem.  Thus  we  read  that  the  heathen  "  shall  tread 
the  Holy  City  under  foot  forty  and  two  months ; "  ^  words 
which,  in  connection  with  others  to  be  noiiced  hereafter, 
seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  composed  between  the  end 
of  December  A.D.  69  and  the  spring  of  A.D.  70 ;  that  is,  in 
the  opening  months  of  the  reign  of  Vespasian.  I  omit 
conjectural  or  hypothetical  arguments,  for  which  I  have 
no  taste,  since  they  are  open  to  endless  dispute ;  content- 
ing myself  with  feeling  that  various  passages,  as  we  shall 
see,  appear  best  explained  by  assigning  this  date  to  the 
book. 

The  island  of  Patmos,  with  its  steep  bare  cliffs,  its  wide 
central  valley,  rising  to  the  site  of  the  little  town  which 
now  looks  down  from  the  interior  on  the  sea,  is  expressly 
stated  to  have  been  thi'  scene  of  the  vision  lecorded  in  the 
first  chapter,  and  it  may  well  be  that  those  composing  the 
lest  of  the  book,  weie  also  vouchsafed  in  that  sequestered 
retreat.  Yet  it  does  not  seem  to  be  implied  that  they  were 
all  written  down  on  the  moment,  for  the  residence  on 
the  island  is  mentioned,  in  the  opening  of  the  book,^  as  in 
a  past  time ;  not  that  in  which  the  "  prophecy  "  was  com- 
mitted to  writing.  John  may  have  gone  on  missionary 
work  to  the  island,  and  in  its  silence  and  isolation  from 
the  world,  opened  his  soul  to  the  divine  revelations,  for 

1  Rev.  xi.  2.  2  p^yy^  i^  9^ 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  173 

which  he  was  thus  prepared ;  but  his  home,  as  he  tells  us, 
was  in  the  region  of  the  seven  churches,  and  he  may 
have  written  out  the  mysterious  communications  he  had 
been  honoured  to  receive,  after  his  return  to  the  mainland ; 
his  home  being  probably  at  Ephesus,  which  is  nearest 
Patmos,  and  perhaps  is  named  first  in  the  "  epistles,"  on 
account  of  its  being  the  writer's  own  city. 


Patmos,  from  the  North  East.    (From  a  sketch  by  H  G,  Powell,  Esq.) 

The  author  tells  us  his  name  was  John,  but  it  hns 
been  gravely  questioned  whether  he  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  apostle  of  that  name,  or  some  unknown  personage, 
also  called  John ;  the  fact  that  he  does  not  say  he  is  the 
apostle,  leaving  the  matter  unsettled.  The  mention  of 
Patmos,  indeed,  has  been  thought  to  connect  the  name  with 
the  beloved  disciple,  since  there  is  a  tradition  that  he  was 
banished  to  that  island.      But  the  historical  value  of  this 


174  THE   APOCALYPSE 

is  seriously  invalidated  by  the  fact,  that  it  confessedly 
sprang  from  the  words  of  the  author  himself,  which,  how- 
ever, make  no  suggestion  of  banishment.^  To  quote  the 
passages  in  the  Fathers  in  which  the  authorship  is  ascribed 
to  the  apostle,  on  the  ground  of  a  mere  legend  of  his 
having  been  thus  banished  to  Patmos,  would  only  confuse, 
and  I  tlierefore  refer  those  who  may  wish  to  read  them, 
to  formal  commentaries,  in  which  these  conflicting  and 
unsu'i  stantinl  details  are  given.  It  is,  moreover,  hardly 
conceivable  that  the  apostle,  had  he  been  the  author,  and 
that,  as  is  thought,  at  the  close  of  his  life,  would  have 
addressed  the  seven  churches,  with  which  he  had  been  so 
long  in  exalted  relations  as  their  apostle,  merely  as  a 
"  brother,  and  a  partaker  with  them  of  the  tribulation,  and 
kingdom,  and  patience  which  is  in  Jesus."  ^ 

No  trace  of  apostolic  authority  or  rank  is  to  be 
found  in  the  book,  or  any  claim  of  that  paternal  rela- 
tion to  his  "  little  children  "  on  which  the  apostle  dwells 
in  his  First  Epistle  ;  a  tenderness  that  must  have  marked 
the  Apocalypse,  written  in  the  afternoon  of  his  life,  if 
written  by  the  apostle  at  all.  Nor  is  there,  anywhere, 
any  allusion  whatever  to  the  endearing  love  between  the 
writer  and  our  Lord,  which  was  so  marked  a  feature 
in  the  apostle's  mind.  It  can  hardly,  moreover,  be 
thought  that  one  so  retiring  and  self-concealing  would 
have  spoken  of  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles,  his  own 
among  others,  being  graven  on  the  twelve  foundations 
of  the  wall  of  the  heavenly  city.^ 

But  the  conclusive  proof,  to  my  mind,  that  John  the 
theologian  was  not  John  the  apostle,  is  the  striking  con- 
trast between  the  style  of  the  Apocalypse  and  the  writings 

^    Rev.  i.  9.  ^  Rev.  i.  9.  ^  Rev.  xxi.  14. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  175 

of  the  beloved  disciple.  It  looks  at  things  and  describes 
them,  in  a  way  unknown  in  the  apostle's  compositions,  while 
some  minor  details  of  its  teaching,  and  many  peculiarities 
in  its  language,  are  no  less  different  from  anything  in 
his  Gos|iel  or  Epistles.  How  strong  is  the  contrast 
between  the  simple  style  and  calm  sublimity  of  thought 
in  the  apostle's  writings,  with  its  gracious  living  power 
and  its  sweep  of  spiritual  vision,  and  the  Daniel-like 
imagery  which  marks  the  Apocalypse  throughout !  How 
different  the  references  of  our  Lord  and  of  the  apostle, 
to  the  Second  Coming,  from  the  long  series  of  plagues 
let  loose  in  the  earth  in  the  Apocalypse,  and  of  horrors 
brought  on  mankind  by  scorpion-like  locusts,  resembling 
war-horses,  which  rise  out  of  the  abode  of  Satan  in  the 
"  abyss  "  ^  or  from  its  armies  of  horses  breathing  out  fire, 
and  smoke,  and  brimstone,^  or  the  other  terrific  judgments 
which  it  discloses  in  this  highly- wrought  symbolism,  as 
the  precursors  of  the  Eeturn  of  Christ !  How  different 
from  the  Gospel  or  Epistles  of  the  apostle,  who  touches 
all  spiritual  things  so  spiritually,  is  its  colossal  and  over- 
powering imagery  of  such  things,  addressed  to  the  senses, 
through  fixed  numbers  and  visible  forms ;  as.  when  it 
speaks  of  the  seven  spirits  of  God,  the  appearance  of 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  of  the 
seven  angels,  of  the  angel  of  the  waters,  and  of  mystical 
numbers  and  localities,  veiled  under  ficrurative  language  !  ^ 
Inspiration  never  effaces  the  mental  individuality  of  a 
sacred  writer,  but  leaves  his  special  endowments  and 
expression  to  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah,  or  Peter  or  Paul: 
not  using  the  inspired  soul  as  a  merely  passive  instrn- 

'  Rev.  ix.  1-11.  -  Rev.  ix.  13-21. 

^  Rev.  i.  4,  5,  G ;  viii.  2;  xvi.  5;  ix.  14;  xvi.  19. 


176  THE  APOCALYPSE 

ment,  but,  rather,  glorifying  and  prompting  the  human 
faculties,  so  that  they  utter,  still  in  their  own  way,  the 
message  of  God  communicated  to  them.  This  being  so, 
it  appears  to  me  self-evident  that  a  mind  so  coloured 
in  its  every  faculty  by  Oriental  modes  of  thought 
and  perception,  and  so  given  to  embody  even  the  subli- 
mities of  the  upper  heavens  in  mystical  imagery  ad- 
dressed to  the  senses,  is  utterly  different  from  that  of 
the  apostle,  which  instinctively  turns  to  lofty  thought 
and  contemplation,  dwelling  habitually  amidst  the  purely 
spiritual ;  never  dreaming  of  presenting  the  mysteries  so 
dear  to  him  in  human  imagery  even  the  most  refined, 
and,  indeed,  introducing  common  narrative  at  all,  only 
when  needed,  as  leading  to  the  higher  aspects  of  the 
divine. 

Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  that  vhe  Apocalypse  speaks 
of  matters  on  which  the  apostle  is  wholly  silent.  Thus, 
it  tells  us  of  a  first  and  second  resurrection,  of  which  the 
apostle  says  nothing,  and  of  a  binding  of  Satan  for  a 
thousand  years,  during  which  the  nations  are  not  to  be 
deceived  by  him  —  this  millennial  felicity  intervening 
between  the  two  resurrections ;  ^  the  apostle  being  silent 
on  this  point  also.  He  speaks,  figuratively,  indeed,  of 
belief  in  Christ  as  a  virtual  resurrection  in  this  life, 
but  places  the  actual  resurrection  from  the  dead  at  the 
Coming  of  Christ.^  The  difference  in  the  representation 
of  the  Antichrist,  and  his  hostility  to  Christ  and  the 
Church,  is  no  less  marked.  With  the  apostle,  there  have 
already  been  many  Antichrists,  but  they  are  described 
as  false  brethren  who  have  left  the  failh,^  whereas  the 

^    Rev,  XX.  1-S  ^  John  v.  25  ff.,  compare  1  John  iii.  14. 

=*  1  John  ii.  18,  19. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  DIVINE    177 

Apocalypse  paints  Antichrist  as  a  beast  rising  out  of  the 
sea,  or  as  a  two-horned  beast,  or  as  the  false  prophet  ^ — 
the  Eoman  Empire,  as  represented  by  the  emperor,  being 
symbolised  by  one  of  these  beasts,  while  the  false  prophet 
is  a  personification  of  all  the  seducing  influences  by  which 
the  heathen  world  had  come  to  worship  it. 

The  belief  that  the  apostle  wrote  the  Apocalypse  is, 
however,  very  old,  for  Justin  Martyr  speaks  of  him  as 
its  author,  within  fifty  years  of  the  death  of  this  last  of 
the  Twelve.  But  it  is  easy  to  imagine  how,  in  Ephesus, 
w^here  he  had  lived  so  long  and  was  so  profoundly  vene- 
rated, the  name  John,  when  found,  in  a  book  already 
spread  through  the  churches,  as  that  of  its  author,  would 
at  once  be  assumed  to  refer  to  the  apostle ;  and  this  idea 
once  started,  future  testimonies  would  practically  be  only 
its  echoes.  We  all  know,  indeed,  how  easy  it  is,  even 
now,  to  ascribe  writings  to  the  more  prominent  of  two 
authors  of  the  same  name,  if  both  write  on  similar  topics. 

As  the  tradition  of  the  apostolic  authorship  of  the  book 
seems  to  have  risen  only  from  the  writer  being  of  the 
same  name  as  the  beloved  disciple,  so,  all  the  statements 
of  ecclesiastical  tradition  as  to  the  time  and  place  of  the 
composition  of  the  Apocalypse,  are  indissolubly  connected 
with  the  traditional  belief  in  the  supposed  banishment  of 
the  Apostle  John  to  Patmos ;  apparently  an  unhistorical 
legend,  springing  only  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the 
text  in  which  that  island  is  mentioned.  The  whole  tradi- 
tion of  such  a  banishment  of  the  apostle  is,  in  fact,  in 
the  highest  degree  doubtful.  Hegesippus,  the  earliest 
chronicler,  who  lived  in  the  first  century  after  Christ,  and 
fragments  of  whose  writings  are  preserved  by  Eusebius, 

^  Rev.  xiii.  1  fiF.  j  xvii.  3  flf. ;  xx.  10;  xiii.  11  ff.  ;  xvii.  11. 
IV.  M 


178  THE   APOCALYPSE 

knows  nothing  of  it,  or  of  the  apostle's  martyrdom,  while 
notices  of  it  at  a  later  date  assign  that  of  the  Apocalypse 
to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Domitian — A.D.  81-96 — in  con- 
tradiction to  its  own  internal  evidence,  which  shows  that 
it  was  written  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  One  tradi- 
tion makes  the  apostle  return  from  Patmos  to  Ephesus ; 
another,  tells  us  he  was  put  to  death  in  Eome,  before  the 
date  given  for  his  banishment  by  other  legends.  The 
story  expands  as  it  grows  older,  till  we  hear  of  his  having 
been  thrown  into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil,  and  coming 
out  of  it  more  vigorous  for  the  dreadful  immersion.  We 
are  told,  further,  in  one  version  of  the  story,  that  he 
was  banished  by  Claudius,  A.D.  41-54,  while  Origen, 
A.D.  185-253,  appeals  to  the  verse  in  which  Patmos  is 
mentioned,  telling  us  that  "  John  himself  reports  the 
circumstance,  not  saying  that  any  one  accused  him,  but 
simply  relating  in  the  Apocalypse  that  he  was  in  the 
isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the  word  of  God  and  the 
testimony  of  Jesus — and  it  thus  appears  that  tlie  Apoca- 
lypse was  written  in  that  island."  Since,  therefore,  the 
ecclesiastical  traditions  have  all  rested  on  the  supposition 
that  it  was  revealed  to  the  Apostle  John  while  he  was  "  in 
exile  "  at  Patmos,  and  that  this  happened  at  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Domitian,  and  since  all  this  superstructure  of 
invention  admittedly  rests  only  on  a  verse  in  which  no 
mention  of  banishment  can  be  found — one  writer  simply 
echoing  an  earlier;  and  since,  notwithstanding  these  tra- 
ditions, the  book  was  certainly  written  before  the  fall  of 
the  Holy  City,  it  follows  that  the  mention  of  Patmos 
by  the  author  is  no  ground  for  concluding  that  John  the 
Theologian,  or  "  Divine,"  was  identical  with  St.  John  the 
apostle.     But  whatever  conclusion  we  adopt,  it  is  none 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  179 

the  less  certain  that  "  Eevelation  "  is  to  be  honoured  as 
duly  canonical  and  sacred ;  its  reception,  as  such,  by  the 
churches,  dating  from  the  earliest  times. 

The  Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine. 

I.  1.  This  is  the  divine  story  of  the  impending  Revela- 
tion or  Revealing,  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave  Him,  Jesus 
Christ,  to  show  unto  His  servants ;  even  the  things  which  must 
shortly  come  to  pass  :  and  He,  Jesus  Christ,  sent  and  made  it 
known,  by  His  angel,  to  His  servant  John ;  2.  who  bare  witness, 
in  this  book,  of  the  word  of  God  thus  revealed  to  him,  and  of 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  which  it  contains — for  He  sent 
it;  even  of  all  the  things  that  he,  John,  saw.  3.  Blessed  is  he 
that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  the  prophecy, 
and  keep  the  things  which  are  written  in  it :  for  the  time  of 
Christ's  coining,  which  will  crown  the  faithful  with  bliss,  is 
at  hand. 

Dedication  of  the  book  to  the  seven  churches  in  Asia. 

4.  John  to  the  seven  churches  in  the  province  of  Asia :  ^ 
Grace  to  you  and  peace,  from  Him  who  is  and  who  was  and 
who  is  to  come ;  and  from  the  seven  Spirits  which  are  before 
His,  God's,  throne;  5.  and  from  Jesus  Christ,  the  faithful 
witness,  the  first-born  of  the  dead,  and  the  ruler  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth. 

As  has  been  noticed,  there  were  other  churches  in 
"Asia"  when  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  besides  those 
mentioned  in  the  "Epistles,"  which,  therefore,  appear  to 
have  been  selected  as  representatives  of  the  Christian 
community  as  a  whole:  the  "roll"  or  "book,"  being, 
doubtless,  circulated  everywhere,  and  read  in  all  the  local 
assemblings  of  the  brethren. 

The  expression,  so  strange  to  Western  minds, — "The 

1  Note.— Proconsular  Asia  embraced  Phrygia,  Mysia,  Caria,  Lydia, 
Ionia,  and  ^olis. 


180 


THE  APOCALYPSE 


seven  Spirits  which  are  before  the  throne,"  seems  only  to 
be  an  instance  of  the  employment  of  a  familiar  Hebrew 
idiom  by  which,  in  harmony  with  its  import  in  many 
parts  of  Scripture,  the  number  seven  stands  for  the 
conception  of  completeness.  In  this  case,  indeed,  it 
might,  in  the  sacred  writer's  mind,  be  only  a  figurative 
way  for  representing  the  varied  perfections  which, 
blended,  make  up   our  conception   of   the   One   Divine 


Eegion  of  the  Seven  Churches. 


Spirit,  as  one  might  speak  of  the  seven  rays  which  we 
can  untwine  from  one — the  seven  tints  which  unite  to 
form  the  sacred  whiteness  of  unbroken  light. 

From  extreme  antiquity,  that  number  had,  indeed,  been, 
in  a  sense,  almost  sacred,  in  Western  Asia,  from  which  the 
Hebrews  came.  Thus,  the  nations  on  the  Euphrates  had  a 
week  of  seven  days,  each  of  which  was  consecrated  to  one  of 


THE   REVELATION   OF    ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  181 

the  seven  divinities  identified  with  the  seven  planets. 
They  believed  that  seven  evil  spirits  were  created  in 
Chaos :  the  great  dragon  Tiamath,  in  their  mythology, 
had  seven  heads,  and  the  mystical  powers  of  this  number 
were  held  to  cure  the  sick,  by  proper  magical  knots 
twisted  seven  times  seven.  Carrying  this  way  of  speak- 
ing and  writing  with  them  from  Mesopotamia  to  Palestine, 
the  Jews  had  seven  days  in  their  cosmogony  ;  the  seventh 
day  was  the  holy  Sabbath ;  the  seventh  year  was  con- 
secrated as  the  Sabbath  of  the  land,  and  the  forty-ninth 
-  -seven  times  seven — as  the  Jubilee.  There  were  seven 
sacred  trumpets,  and  the  sacred  candlestick  had  seven 
branches,  while  many  sacrifices,  like  those  of  Balaam, 
required  seven  victims.  The  later  Jews  extended  this 
mystical  use  of  seven  in  every  direction,  in  their  religious 
speculations,  and  it  is  curious  that  in  the  Apocalypse, 
which  is  so  strongly  coloured  by  the  prevalent  modes 
of  expression  of  the  age,  seven  constantly  occurs  in  its 
metaphors.  Thus,  there  are  seven  churches,  seven 
candlesticks,  seven  Spirits,  seven  stars,  seven  lamps,  and 
the  Lamb  has  seven  horns  and  seven  eyes ;  there  are  seven 
angels  before  God,  for  special  services  ;  there  were  seven 
thunders  ;  the  great  dragon,  like  that  of  the  Babylonians, 
has  seven  heads ;  there  are  seven  last  plagues,  seven 
golden  vials ;  and  seven  kings  appear  in  the  vision  of  the 
beast,  which,  itself,  has  seven  heads.  The  "seven  Spirits 
of  God"  may,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  only  a  popular 
Hebrew  way  of  expressing  the  various  modes  in  which 
the  One  Holy  Spirit  exerts  His  perfections,  in  the  moral 
government  of  God,  and  this  explanation  appears  to  find 
support  from  the  language  of  the  prophet  Zechariah,  who 
tells  us  in  the  same  apocalyptic  style,  that  the  mystical 


182  THE   APOCALYPSE 

stone  laid  before  Joshua,  the  high-priest,  had  on  it  seven 
eyes,  which  are  "  the  eyes  of  the  Lord,  that  run  to  and 
fro  through  the  whole  earth  : "  ^  a  passage  offering  a 
striking  parallel  to  that  in  which  our  book  speaks  of  the 
'seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth." ^ 
These  may,  therefore,  be  reasonably  taken  as  a  figurative 
expression,  when  named  in  the  opening  of  the  Apocalypse, 
or  elsewhere,  for  the  divine  perfections  of  the  One  Holy 
Spirit  of  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  as,  in  the  vision 
of  Zechariah,  the  "  seven  eyes  "  are  a  figurative  expression 
for  "  the  eyes  of  the  Lord ; "  indicating  His  universal 
oversight  of  human  o.ffairs. 

The  use  of  the  number  seven  with  this  fulness  of 
allegorical  meaning,  was  the  more  natural,  from  the  adop- 
tion by  John  of  the  current  style  of  the  Jewish  religious 
literature  of  his  day.  The  rabbis,  as  we  know,  spoke  of 
seven  angels  before  the  throne ;  the  conception  having  its 
origin,  in  all  probability,  from  Jewish  theology  having 
clothed  its  visions  of  the  majesty  of  the  upper  heavens, 
in  stately  imagery  drawn  from  that  seen  in  the  palaces 
of  the  Persian  sultans,  for  centuries  their  sovereigns; 
seven  princes  standing  before  the  throne  of  the  Great 
King,  in  Susa,  or  Ecbatana,  or  Persepolis.  Thus,  in  the 
Book  of  Tobit,  written  some  time  between  the  fourth  and 
the  second  century  before  Christ,  we  read  of  Eaphael  as 
"  one  of  the  seven  holy  angels  who  present  the  prayers  of 
the  saints,  and  go  in  and  out  before  the  glory  of  the  Holy 
One."^  These  seven  angels,  says  Piabbi  Eliezer,  were 
created  first,  and  minister  to  God  outside  the  veil. 

1  Zech.  iii.  9 ;  iv.  10.  ^  Rev.  v.  6. 

^  Fritsche  omits  "seven"  in  his  Handhuch,  1853,  but  retains  ii  iu  his 
Lihri  Apocryphi,  1871.     The  Variorum  Bible  omits  it,  but  in  any  case,  it 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  183 

liut  it  may  be  that  the  true  explanation  lies  nearer  our 
hand,  for  the  word  "  spirit "  is,  of  course,  often  used  of 
angels  in  Scripture,  and  it  is  urged  that  it  should  be  so 
understood  here,  since  in  Hebrews,^  it  is  said,  "  Are  they 
not  all,  ministering  Spirits,  sent  forth  to  do  service  for  the 
sake  of  them  that  shall  inherit  salvation  ? "  Why  should 
these  seven  Spirits,  it  is  asked,  not  be  the  seven  of  Jewish 
theology,  since  John  had  adopted  so  much  else  from  it  ? 
Why  not  understand  them  simply  as  the  ministering 
angels  through  whom  God  executes  His  sovereign  will 
in  the  service  of  the  Church ;  in  fact,  to  come  back  to 
the  idea  already  advanced,  as  a  poetical  figure  for  the 
varied  energies  of  the  one  Spirit  of  the  Gospels  end  New 
Testament  generally  ? 

The  name  "  the  faithful  witness "  given  to  Christ  is 
used  more  than  once  in  the  Apocalypse.^  It  was,  in  fact, 
the  name  He  had  given  to  Himself  when  before  Pilate,^ 
in  the  sublime  words — "  To  this  end  have  I  been  born,  and 
to  this  end  have  I  come  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear 
witness  to  the  truth." 

The  prominence  given  to  His  being  "  the  first-born  of 
the  dead  "  is  in  keeping  with  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
was  the  belief  of  the  Jews  of  John's  day,  for  the  Targum  of  Jonathan  on 
Gen.  xi.  7,  tells  us  that  "there  are  seven  angels  who  stand  before  God," 
and  Jonathan  is  said  to  have  been  a  pupil  of  Hillel,  who  lived  in  the 
generation  before  Christ.  The  tradition,  as  given  in  the  Talmud  {Baba 
hathra,  c.  viii.  f.  134  a),  is  worth  quoting,  to  show  what  the  rabbis  thought 
of  their  order,  and  what  superstition  reigned  among  them.  "  Our  rabbis 
say  that  there  were  eighty  disciples  of  Hillel,  thirty  of  whom  were  honoured 
by  the  Shechina — the  visible  presence  of  God, — resting  over  them, — as  over 
our  lawgiver  Moses  ;  another  thirty,  at  whose  word  the  sun  would  stand 
still,  as  it  did  at  the  word  of  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun,  and  twenty,  who 
ranked  between  these  ;  but  the  greatest  of  all  was  Jonathan  ben  Uzzi^l." 
1  Heb.  i.  14.  2  r^v.  iii.  14 ;  xix.  11  ;  xxii.  6. 

8  John  xviii.  37 ;  1  Tim.  vi.  13. 


184  THE  APOCALYPSE 

ment,  which  echoes,  throughout,  the  words  of  Paul,  "If 
Christ  has  not  been  raised,  then  is  our  preaching  vain, 
and  your  faith  also  is  vain."  ^  But,  now  risen,  and 
clothed  with  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come ;  all  these 
powers  having  been  committed  to  Him,  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,"  ^  John,  in  common  with  all  the  Christians  of  his 
day,  might  well  call  Jesus,  the  Euler  of  the  kings  of  the 
earth ;  even  Nero,  in  all  his  might,  being  only  permitted 
by  Him  to  monarchise  for  a  brief  moment,  before  being 
destroyed  by  the  consuming  lightnings  of  His  wrath. 

6.  Unto  Him  that  loveth  us,  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins 
by  His  blood,  and  has  made  us  to  be  a  kingdom,  and  to  be 
priests  to  His  God  and  Father :  to  Him  be  the  glory  and  the 
dominion  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen.  7.  Behold,  He  cometh 
with  the  clouds  that  mark  the  divine  presence;  and  every 
eye  shall  see  Him,  and  they  who  pierced  Him — so  soon  will 
He  come  !  and  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  shall  mourn  because 
of  Him  :  Even  so.     Amen. 

God,  who  "  gives  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  be 
shown  by  Him  to  His  servants,"  now  proclaims  Him- 
self; setting  His  seal  on  it,  as  from  Him,  before  it  is 
recorded,  and  thus  stamping  the  whole  book  as  a  divine 
disclosure  of  the  mysterious  relations  of  our  Lord  to  His 
people,  and  also  to  those  who  refused  His  salvation — that 
is,  to  the  Christian  and  the  heathen  world. 

John  had  given  the  double  assurance  of  the  truth  of 
what  he  was  about  to  record,  by  a  double,  solemn  asseve- 
ration, in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  indicated  by  the  two  forms 
translated  "  even  so  "  and  "  Amen,"  and  now,  the  Almighty 
adds  His  testimony  to  its  divine  truthfulness. 

8.  I  am  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  that  is,  "the  beginning 

1  Cor.  XV,  14.  ^  Matt,  xxviii.  18. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  185 

and  the  ending  of  all  things,"  saith  the  Lord  God,  who  is, 
and  who  was,  and  who  is  to  come,  the  Almighty. 

John  next  receives  from  Christ,  in  a  vision,  the  com- 
mand to  write  down  the  revelations  about  to  be  vouch- 
safed him,  and  to  send  them  to  the  seven  churches  of 
Proconsular  Asia,  named.  Like  the  old  prophets  he  pre- 
faces this  high  commission  by  reciting  as  his  authority 
to  speak  and  write,  the  divine  summons  he  has  received 
to  do  so.^ 

3.  I  John,  your  brother  and  partaker  with  you  in  the 
tribulation,  and  kingdom,  and  patient  endurance  which  are 
our  lot  and  glory  in  and  through  Jesus,  was  in  the  island 
that  is  called  Patmos,  for — that  is,  to  receive — the  word  of 
God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  there  to  be  revealed  to  me. 

He  had  gone  to  Patmos  to  receive  the  revelation  of 
'•'  the  word  of  God  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus ; "  the 
seclusion  of  such  a  spot  fitting  such  a  mysterious  inter- 
course of  humanity  with  the  spiritual  world.  Patmos,  as 
I  have  said,  lies  near  Ephesus,  being,  in  fact  only  about 
sixty  miles  south-west  of  that  city,  and  about  forty  from 
Miletus,  where  Paul  touched  and  sent  for  the  elders 
of  the  Ephesian  church.  It  is  only  about  eight  miles 
long,  north  and  south,  and  about  four  miles  across,  at  its 
upper  end.  A  little  below  this  the  land  recedes,  and  a 
deep  bay,  about  two  miles  across,  facing  the  south-east, 
almost  divides  the  island  into  two.  A  smaller  bay  fills 
another  bend  in  the  coast  immediately  south  of  this 
larger  one.  The  ground,  in  some  parts,  slopes  up  from 
the  sea,  westwards ;  in  others,  there  are  walls  of  rock 
siuking  sheer  down  into  the  blue  water.     In  the  middle, 

'  Jer.  i. ;  Isa.  vi. ;  Ezek.  i.-Lii.  ;  Amos  vii.  14  ff. 


186  THE   APOCALYPSE 

the  outline  rises  to  a  height  which  would  be  the  site  of  a 
far-shining  lighthouse  in  any  other  government  than  that 
of  the  Turk,  and,  throughout,  the  whole  island  is,  on 
the  west,  a  waving  background  of  rounded  heights,  from 
which  one  looks  on  the  sea  beneath,  and,  beyond  the  long 
pleasant  valleys,  to  islands  between  Patmos  and  the  main- 
land. The  population  are  nearly  all  sailors,  and  hence 
there  are  comparatively  few  men  at  any  time  to  be  seen. 
A  town  on  the  highest  part  of  the  island,  is  very  prettily 
situated  with  churches  and  convents  rising  above  the 
houses,  and  a  few  alleged  memorials  of  the  old  city  of 
apostolic  times  are  still  shown,  including  a  cave  in  which, 
it  is  believed,  John  wrote  the  Apocalypse,  though  it  is 
hard  to  understand  why  he  should  have  chosen  a  damp 
cave,  when  there  were  plenty  of  human  habitations  of  all 
sorts. 

He  now  introduces  the  circumstances  of  his  receiving 
the  divine  communications. 

10.  I  was  in  the  Spirit,  like  Peter  at  Joppa,  or  Paul  in  the 
Temple,^  on  the  Lord's  day, — the  first  day  of  the  week,  the  day 
of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  sacred  to  us  Christians  above  all 
the  rest,2  and  I  heard  behind  me  a  great  voice  loud  as  that  of 
a  trumpet,  11.  saying,  What  thou  seest,  write  in  a  book,  and 
send  it  to  the  seven  churches  ;  to  Ephesus,  and  to  Smyrna,  and 
to  Pergamos,  and  to  Thyatira,  and  to  Sardis,  and  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  to  Laodieea.  12.  And  I  turned  to  see  the  voice  which 
spake  with  me.  And  having  turned,  I  saw  seven  golden  candle, 
sticks ;  13.  and  in  the  midst  of  the  candlesticks  one  like  unto 
a  Son  of  man,^  clothed  with  a  garment  down  to  the  foot,  and 
girt  about,  at  the  breasts,  with  a  golden  girdle.  14.  And  His 
head  and  His  hair  were  white  as  white  wool ;  white  as  snow ; 

1  Acts  xi.  5  ;  xxii.  17.  ^1  Cor.  xvi.  2  ;  Acts  xx.  7. 

**  There  is  no  article,  so  that  it  is  not  here,  The  Son  of  man. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  187 

and  His  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire  ;  15.  and  Ilis  feet  like  bur- 
nished brass,  as  if  it  had  been  refined  in  a  furnace  ;  and  His 
voice  as  the  voice  of  many  waters.  16.  And  He  had  in  His 
right  hand  seven  stars  :  and  out  of  His  mouth  proceeded  a 
sharp  two-edged  sword  :  and  His  countenance  was  as  the  sun 
shineth  in  his  strength.  17.  And  when  I  saw  Him,  I  fell  at 
His  feet  as  one  dead.  And  He  laid  His  right  hand  on  me, 
saying,  Fear  not ;  I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  18.  and  the 
Living  one  ;  and  I  was  dead,  and  behold,  I  am  alive  for  ever- 
more, and  I  have  the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hades.  19.  Write 
therefore  the  things  which  thou  sawest,  and  the  things  that 
are,  and  the  things  which  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter;  20. 
the  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which  thou  sawest  in  my  right 
hand,  and  the  seven  golden  candlesticks.  The  seven  stars  are 
the  angels  of  the  seven  churches  ;  and  the  seven  candlesticks 
are  seven  churches. 

Christ  is  thus  seen  standing  in  the  midst  of  symbols  of 
the  churches,  holding  in  His  right  hand  those  of  their 
"  bishops  "  or  "  overseers  " ;  thus  justifying  and  sustaining 
the  sure  hope  of  His  people  in  Him,  which  it  is  the  object 
of  the  book  to  fortify.  As  He  has  already  been  described  as 
making  them  kings  and  priests,^  He  is  robed  in  high- 
priestly  and  kingly  splendour :  His  rich  outer  vestment 
reaching  to  His  feet,  reminding  John,  we  may  fancy,  of 
that  of  the  earthly  high-priest,  which  was  regarded  by  his 
people,  we  know  not  on  what  grounds,  as  symbolising  the 
whole  world,^  and  recalling  to  us  the  robes  of  the  Eternal, 
in  the  vision  of  Isaiah,  with  skirts  filling  the  Temple.^ 
The  girdle  entirely  of  gold  was  restricted  to  kings,*  for 
that  of  the  high-priest  was  only  ornamented  with  that 
metal,^  but,  like  that  of  Christ,  here,  it  was  worn  "about 

1  Verse  6.  Wisd.  xviii.  24.     So  Philo  and  Josephus  also. 

^  IdM.  vi.  1.  '  1  Mace.  X.  89.  =  Exod.  xxviii.  8  ;  xxxix.  5 


188  THE   APOCALYPSE 

the  breast,"  not  lower  down,  as  with  kings.^  His  head 
and  hair,  white  as  snow,  reproduce  the  language  of  Daniel, 
describing  the  majesty  of  "  the  Ancient  of  Days : "  His 
eternal  existence  being  apparently  indicated  by  the  white- 
ness ;  ^  in  keeping  with  His  claim  of  uncreated  being,  as 
"the  first  and  the  last."  His  eyes,  like  a  flame  of  fire, 
harmonise  with  the  imagery  used  in  Daniel ;  such  glowing 
eyes  being  a  characteristic  ascribed  also  to  the  heathen 
gods,  as  we  see,  in  Virgil  and  Homer ;  ^  to  remind  us  of  the 
penetrating  glance  with  which  Omniscience  looks  through 
all  men,  and  judges  all  things.  The  feet,  shining  like 
refined  brass,  may  be  only  a  trait  of  majesty,  but  they  may 
speak,  also,  of  His  treading  His  enemies  under  them,  as 
the  eyes  may  express  His  wrath  against  them.  His  voice, 
compared  before  to  a  trumpet,  is  further  described  as  like 
the  sound  of  many  waters:  filling  one  with  a  sense  of 
irresistible  power.  In  His  right  hand  He  holds  the  seven 
stars,  which  represent  the  "  angels  "  of  the  seven  churches, 
thus  under  His  care  and  wholly  His  own.  His  divine 
might  is  additionally  proclaimed  by  the  appearance  as  of 
a  sharp  two-edged  sword  coming  out  of  His  mouth; 
another  way  of  announcing  that  He  will  "  slay  the  lawless 
one  with  the  breath  uf  His  mouth,"  ^  and  that  "  the  word 
of  God  is  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword."  ^  Unspeak- 
able splendour  shines  from  His  countenance  and  floats 
round  the  whole  vision,  as  of  the  sun  when  its  light  is 
most  overpowering.  It  is  striking  and  suggestive  to  notice 
the  resemblance  of  this  imagery  to  that  in  the  Book  of 
Daniel,  when  the  prophet,  standing  "  by  the  side  of  the 

Jos.  Ant.  iii.  7,  2.  ^  Dan.  vii.  9. 

«  Virg.  J^neid,  v.  647  ff.  ;  Horn.  II.  xix.  365  flf. 

*  2  Thess.  ii.  8.  ^  Heb.  iv.  12. 


THE  REVELATION   OF   ST.   JOHN  THE   DIVINE  189 

great  river  Hiddekel,  or  Tigris,  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and, 
behold,  a  man  clothed  in  linen,  whose  loins  were  girded 
with  pure  gold  of  Uphas :  His  body  also  was  like  the 
beryl  (or  aqua-marine — a  stone  greatly  prized  for  its 
lovely  greenish-blue  tinge), — and  His  face  as  the  appear- 
ance of  lightning,  and  His  eyes  as  flames  of  fire,  and  His 
arms  and  His  feet  like  in  colour  to  burnished  brass,  and 
the  voice  of  His  words  like  the  voice  of  a  multitude."  ^ 

At  the  sight  of  a  vision  so  transcendent  John  tells  us 
he  fell  at  its  feet  as  one  dead,  but  piesently  felt  the  right 
hand  of  the  Wondrous  Form  laid  on  him,  and  heard  words 
that  rebuked  his  fears,  and  composed  his  spirit  for  the  task 
assigned  him.  As  a  mortal  and  a  sinner,  he  was  afraid  of 
the  powers  of  the  Unseen  World,  dreading  death  in  thus 
coming  face  to  face  with  them.  But  the  glorified  Jesus 
tells  him  to  dismiss  his  alarm.  As  the  First  and  the 
Last,  that  is,  no  other  than  the  Almighty,^  and  as  the 
Living  One,  who  had  stooped  to  death,  but  was  now  alive 
for  evermore,  He  had  the  keys  of  death  and  Hades,  and, 
as,  thus,  their  Lord,  could  deliver  man  from  their  poweT, 
for  He  had  triumphed  over  tbem  openly.  John  might, 
therefore,  with  calm  mind,  write  down  what  he  was  now 
to  hear.  His  risen,  divine  Lord,  whom  he  saw,  had  come 
to  him  as  the  Living  One,  bringing  love,  not  wrath. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus. 

j-j^  <esus  has  been  fully  described  in  the  Life  of  St. 
Paul,  in  these  "  Hours,"  ^  but  having  just  returned  from 
a  second  journey  in  the  footsteps  of  the  apostle,  I  am 
able  to  supplement  the  account  of  the  once  magnificent 
city,  by  additional  detail?.      It   lay  about   thirty-three 

1  Dan.  X.  6.  ^  j^^^^  ^  g^  Geikie's  "  St.  Paul,"  vol.  i.  G8-74. 


190  THE  APOCALYPSE 

miles  nearly  south  of  Smyrna,  from  which  its  ruins  may 
be  most  easily  reached :  a  railway  now  extending  to  them 
from  the  latter  city,  though  what  the  very  few  trains  get 
to  carry,  either  to  them  or  from  them,  apart  from  a  chance 
freight  of  tourists,  is  hard  to  imagine.  The  landscape 
round  Smyrna  is  charming.  Broad,  luxuriantly  fertile 
valleys  alternate   with   wide  plains,   shut  in,  along  the 


Anc  ent  Ephesus. 

far-off  horizon,  by  hills  and  mountaims,  which  often  run 
into  the  valleys  or  plains  themselves,  breaking  them  up 
into  lovely  green  bays  and  long-drawn  recesses.  The 
dry,  or  nearly  dry,  beds  of  streams,  swollen  and  stormy 
enough,  no  doubt,  during  the  winter  storms,  are  crossed 
and  recrossed,  and  the  country  gradually  rises  into  a 
tableland  characteristic  of  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor  as 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  DIVINE 


191 


a  whole.  Near  Smyrna,  pleasant  houses  dot  the  borders 
of  the  line,  but  the  population  beyond  the  suburbs  very 
soon  becomes  painfully  small.  Scarcely  any  one  passed, 
though,  here  and  there,  a  few  people  were  at  work  in  the 
fields,  especially  round  the  poor  villages  that  now  and 
then  varied  the  general  solitude.     There  is  no  forest,  and 


Site  of  Ephesus.    {From  a  Photograph  by  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Trcmlctt.) 

few  timber  trees,  but  the  surpassing  wealth  of  the  soil 
was  everywhere  evident  in  rich  shrubbery,  wide  grassy 
expanses,  and,  where  there  was  cultivation,  in  wide  vine 
and  olive  yards,  and  a  wealth  of  mighty  fig-trees,  white- 
blossomed  almonds,  and  pomegranates,  or  other  fruit-trees. 
The  crops  of  grain  were  as  yet  green ;  the  beans  and  green 


192  THE   APOCALYPS. 

legumes,  pleasant  to  see.  At  times,  near  Smyrna,  large 
herds  of  cattle,  goodly  to  look  upon  as  any  in  England, 
and  great  flocks  of  sheep  and  goats,  told  what  might  have 
been  seen  everywhere  had  there  been  people  to  tend  or 
own  them.  But  for  miles  before  the  point  at  which  the 
train  stopped,  the  landscape  became  more  and  more  deso- 
late. Everywhere,  wild  nature  had  resumed  possession 
of  what,  in  Eoman  times,  had  been  the  richest  province 
of  the  empire.  Long  tracts  had  been  left  to  become 
swamps,  morasses,  or  shallow  lakes,  dotted  over  with 
clumps  of  bulrushes,  and  haunted  by  flights  of  water- 
fowl. Mile  after  mile,  for  want  of  a  population  to  use 
the  proffered  luxuriance  of  the  region,  the  wide  landscape 
was  given  over  to  the  thorn,  the  briar,  and  the  reed. 
Districts  that  might  be  fertile  as  Eden,  and  had,  in  fact, 
once  been  so,  were  an  uninhabited  wilderness.  Five  or 
six  miles  before  reaching  Ephesus,  we  had  to  leave  the 
road  and  jog  across  open,  unoccupied  expanses ;  the  first 
signs  of  nearing  the  once  great  city  being  the  sight  of 
countless  fragments  of  marble  and  otlier  precious  build- 
ing material— the  wreck  of  public  buildings  or  stately 
mansions, — which  pitifully  littered  the  ground.  Capitals 
of  great  pillars,  pieces  of  carved  blocks,  remains  of  statues, 
sections  of  proud  marble  columns,  quantities  of  Eoman 
bricks,  and  all  the  shattered  and  outcast  memorials  of 
a  splendid  metropolis,  looked  up  from  some  ditch  into 
which  they  had  been  dragged,  out  of  the  peasant  culti- 
vator's way,  or  lay  on  the  mostly  unbroken  surface  of 
the  wide  rough  common,  or  by  the  side  of  the  riding 
track.  In  some  places,  indeed,  they  made  it  difficult 
to  keep  one's  seat,  as  the  horse  cautiously  got  down  from 
a  higher  to  a  lower  footing,  over  a  heap  of  ruin.     The 


THE  REVELATION   OF   ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  193 

face  of  the  landscape  was  actually  white  with  bits  of 
what  had  once  been  a  temple,  a  mansion,  a  courthouse, 
a  gymnasium,  or  some  other  detail  of  civic  splendour. 

Ephesus-proper  lay,  as  we  know,  partly,  in  the  plain 
along  the  banks  of  the  Cayster,  but  it  extended  up  the 
hills  I  had  to  cross  before  descending  to  the  lower  level. 


At  the  Site  of  Temple  of  Diana,  Ephesus.    {From  a  Photograph  by 
H.  G.  Poivell,  Esq.) 


The  plain  is  now  above  five  miles  across,  but  in  New 
Testament  days  it  must  have  been  smaller;  the  whole 
western  side  of  Ionia  having  slowly  risen  since  then,  so 
that  the  alluvium  deposited  by  the  river  has  turned  into 
dry  land,  from  this  cause  and  from  neglect,  much  that, 
in  old  days,  was  dock,  or  lake,  or  river  channel.     The  line 

IV.  N 


194  THE  APOCALYPSE 

of  embankment  alongside  which  ships  moored,  is,  hence, 
now,  far  inland,  and  there  is  no  sign  of  Ephesus  ever 
having  been  a  seaport.      Coming  from  Smyrna,  the  first 
break  in  the  plain  one  meets  is  an  oblong  hollow  full 
of  large  stones,  like  the  rough  output  of  a  quarry ;  but 
these  blocks  and  heaps,  and  this  uninviting  pit,  mark  the 
site  of  the  great  Temple  of  Diana ;  once  the  centre  of  so 
much,  with  its  colonnades,  and  far-stretching  grounds,  and 
sacred  lakes  and  fountains,  and  rustling  groves,  and  festal 
crowds  from  all  the  world.     South-west  of  this  lay  the 
inner  harbour,  now  long  ago  silted  up  and  raised  above  the 
sea-level,  by  the  general  elevation  of  the  coast.    Two  small 
tributaries  once  flowed  into  the  sparkling  Cayster ;   one 
on  the  east,  the  other  on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  but  they 
are  now  gone.   Due  south  from  the  proud  temple,  at  the  foot 
of  a  hill  about  a  third  of  a  mile  off,  lay  the  huge  stadium, 
700  feet  long  and  90  broad,  which  could,  when  desired,  be 
made  into  an  amphitheati  e.     A  huge  building,  once  ware- 
houses and  barracks  for  sailors,  stood  on  the  edge  of  the 
quay,  300  yards  off,  to  the  south-west,  and,  between  the 
two,  at  the  corner  of  a  triangle,  still  to  the  south,  seating 
24,500,  rose  the  vast  theatre,  456  feet  in  diameter,  sur- 
rounded by  a  spacious  and  imposing  colonnade  ;  the  scene 
of  the  great  tumult  on  account  of  St.  Paul.     Close  behind 
was  the  Agora,  or  market-place,  surrounded  by  pillars, 
and  across  the  road  from  that,  a  temple  with  Corinthian 
columns.     The  Odeium,  a  grand  open-air  opera-house  ;  a 
temple  of  Olympian  Jupiter ;  and  the  Gymnasium,  for  the 
training  of  athletes  and  the  exhibition  of  their  feats,  were 
all  near  this,  close  under  the  slopes   of  the  short   hill- 
range  of  Coressus,  which  ran  for  about  two  miles,  from 
south-east  to  north-west ;  the  city  wall  stretching  along 


Gateway  at  Ephesus.     {From  a  Photograph  by  H  G.  Pmvell,  Esq  ) 


Mound  at  Ephesus     {From  a  Photograph  hij  Rev.  I/r.  F.  Tremeltt.) 


196 


THE  APOCALYPSE 


its  rounded  summits^  while  the  now  silent  green  ascents 
and  hollows,  very  picturesque  in  outline,  were  then  covered 
with  buildings,  mainly  of  the  working  classes. 

The  modern  village  of  Ayasluk  stands  at  the  foot  and 
on  the  north-west  slope  of  the  hill  Pion  and  the  range 
Coressus,  which  are  close  together,  and  boasts  of  the  ruins 


Monastery  of  St.  John,  Ephesus.    (From  a  Photograph  by  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Tremlett.) 


of  a  church  reputed  to  have  been  the  restoration  of  one 
more  ancient,  built  by  Justinian  over  the  tomb  of  St. 
John  ;  but  for  this  tradition  there  is  no  historical  support. 
A  huge  ruined  monastery,  once  that  of  St.  John,  built  from 
the  spoil  of  the  temple  of  Diana,  rises  like  a  great  barrack 
at  the   foot  of  the  hills;   the  village  standing  at  some 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  197 

distance  from  it.  There  are  only  a  few  houses,  all  of 
humble  or  moderate  pretensions,  the  hotel  of  the  place 
showing  no  outward  signs  of  being  so,  as  the  village  needs 
very  small  provision  for  travellers  ;  its  special  supplies, 
having  to  be  brought  on  camels  or  horses  from  Smyrna. 
No  one  seemed  to  be  doing  anything ;  the  few  shopkeepers 


Konian  Arch  ami  Ruins  at  Ephesus.     (From  a  Photograph  by  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Tremlett.) 


standing  at  the  doors  in  amiable  gossip  with  their  sadly 
dirty  and  squalid  fellow-villagers,  and  two  or  three  camels 
standing  or  lying,  as  idly,  in  the  street. 

Of  all  the  glories  of  Ephesus  nothing  is  left  but  heaps 
of  stones,  or  gaunt  remains  of  once  great  structures 
respecting  which  one  may  speculate  at  his  will.     A  Eoman 


198  THE   APOCALYPSE 

arch  and  a  Eomaii  gateway  still  stand,  some  miles  from 
the  present,  village,  and  an  immense  building  near  them 
in  sad  ruin,  stretching  along  a  paved  way  high  over  the 
plain, — the  line  of  the  ancient  quays, — is  perhaps  the 
ancient  imperial  magazine  or  the  custom-house.  The 
market-place  is  a  confusion  of  ruins,  and  so  are  all  the 
other  details  of  the  once  mighty  centre  of  a  trade  drawn 
from  the  pillars  of  Hercules  on  the  west,  to  Syria  on  the 
east,  and  from  the  Sea  of  Azof  on  the  north,  to  Abyssinia 
on  the  south ;  the  whole  scene  making  it  hard  to  realise 
that  such  an  utter  solitude  could  ever  have  been  the 
crowded  seat  of  a  vast  industrious  population. 

St.  Paul  had  founded  and  for  three  years  built  up  the 
church  at  Ephesus,  winning  some  Jews,  and  more  heathen^ 
to  Christianity,  but,  amidst  tears  and  fond  regrets,  at  part- 
ing, in  Miletus,  from  the  "  presbyters  "  of  a  people  he  so 
tenderly  loved,  he  had  told  them  that  he  foresaw  the  en- 
trance among  them,  after  his  departure,  of  deadly  error  and 
wild  division.  This  might,  indeed,  have  been  expected,  in 
a  city  famous  not  only  for  its  wealth  and  commerce,  but 
for  its  affectation  of  Greek  culture,  which  delighted  in 
subtleties  of  verbal  refinement,  and  for  a  painful  lightness 
that  turned  everything  into  a  jest  or  an  opportunity  for 
displaying  fancied  wit.^  At  a  shortly  later  time  we  find 
Timothy  in  his  place,  as  its  head,^  but  rather  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  apostle,  it  would  seem,  than  as  its  "  bishop  " 
or  overseer ;  since  its  elders,  or  body  of  presbyters,  went  to 
St.  Paul  at  Miletus,  as  its  leaders ;  no  overseer  or  bishop 
accompanying  them,  while  the  apostle  speaks  of  it  as  "  the 
flock  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  bishops."  ^ 

^  Eph.  V.  4;  Acts  xviii.  19  ;  xix.  1  ff.  ;  xx.  17-38. 

•^  1  Tim.  i.  3.  3  ^cts  XX.  28,  R.V. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN  THE  DIVINE  199 

The  existence  of  this  plurality  of  bishops  makes  it  diffi- 
cult to  know  the  precise  application  of  the  title  "angel," 
given  by  our  Lord  in  the  Apocalypse  to  the  recipient  of 
his  Epistle  to  each  local  church.  Whatever  is  meant,  the 
"angels  "  in  each  of  the  seven  epistles,  are  addressed  as  if 
they  were  the  churches  themselves ;  receiving  praise  or 
blame  as  if  embodiments  of  the  whole  membership.  Each 
is  addressed  as  guilty  of  the  faults  of  the  community, 
and  as  having  earned  what  commendation  is  assigned  to 
their  good  works,  so  that  the  ''  angel "  appears  rather 
an  ideal  personification  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  congre- 
gation in  its  entirety,  than  any  single  man  or  higher  being. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  book  is  an  Apocalypse, 
and  thus  peculiar  in  its  style  and  imagery,  so  that  we 
cannot  apply  to  it  any  analogies  drawn  from  other  Scrip- 
tures. By  some,  however,  these  ''  angels  '  are  imagined 
to  be  the  celestial  representatives  or  guardians  of  the 
churches ;  the  majesty  of  Christ  in  the  Vision,  which 
carries  us  up  to  the  highest  heavens,  being  thought  to 
justify  this  view,  and  it  is  further  urged  in  its  support, 
that  "  angels  "  play  a  great  part  in  the  book  ;  there  being 
angels  of  the  waters,  of  the  winds,  of  fire,  and  of  the  abyss.^ 

Others  have  regarded  the  angels  of  the  churches  as 
the  recognised  priests  of  each  congregation,  relying  on 
the  words  of  Malachi :  "  The  priest  is  the  messenger  (or 
angel)  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  ;"2  a  dignity  without  ques- 
tion rightly  ascribed  to  the  ambassador  from  God  to  man. 
But  since  the  elders,  at  Miletus,  are  authoritatively  stated 
to  be  the  divinely-appointed  bishops  of  the  church  at 
Ephesus,  and,  as  such,  may  be  fairly  assumed  to  indi- 
cate  the   constitution   of   the   churches   in    those    early 

1  Rev.  xvi.  5;  vii.  1 ;  xiv.  18;  ix.  11.  s  jj^^i^  jj   7 


200  THE  APOCALYPSE 

days,  there  is  no  one  to  whom  the  title  of  priest  or  single 
overseer  could  apply.  The  name  "  priest,"  moreover,  in  the 
Jewish  sense,  is  never  used  in  the  New  Testament,  of  the 
Christian  elders  or  overseers,  that  is,  bishops.  And,  in 
any  case,  the  priest  was  not  guilty  of  the  sins  of  the 
congregation,  nor  entitled  to  the  praise  of  their  varied 
graces. 

Another  idea  has  been,  that  the  name  "  angel  was  used 
as  an  equivalent  to  the  subordinate  official  of  the  syna- 
gogue, who  rendered  services  of  many  kinds  to  the  priests, 
Levites,  and  the  head  of  the  synagogue,  besides  taking 
charge  of  the  minor  business  of  the  synagogue  generally. i 
This  comprehensive  office,  discharged  in  earlier  times  by 
a  duly  qualified  member  of  the  presbyters  or  elders, 
who  thus  became  the  mouthpiece  of  the  congregation  in 
prayer,  and  in  reading  the  Scriptures — was  gradually  com- 
mitted to  an  official  specially  appointed  to  it,  who  was 
then  called  Shebach  Hatzibbur — that  is,  the  messenger, 
or  representative  of  the  congregation ;  acting  also  as  the 
secretary  or  "  scribe  "  of  the  synagogue.  He  had  also  to 
call  on  the  priest  to  give  the  benediction.  On  New 
Year's  Day  he  blew  the  trumpet  then  sounded,  and  on 
fast-days  he  strewed  the  ashes  on  the  heads  of  the  peni- 
tent assembly,  besides  discharging  many  other  duties  of 
various  kinds.  It  was  deemed  necessary,  therefore,  that 
he  should  be  a  man  of  special  gifts,  of  blameless  life,  well 
versed  in  the  Scriptures,  used  to  lead  in  prayer,  of  ripe 
years,  with  a  good  voice,  not  rich,  and  the  father  of  a 
large  family.  His  importance  grew  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  synagogue  worship  throughout  the  nation 
everywhere,   and  with    the  gradual    sinking  of  Hebrew 

1  BuxtorflF,  Lex.  1411. 


THE   EEVELATION    OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  201 

into  a  dead  language ;  he  becoming,  thus,  the  interpreter 
of  the  Lessons  to  the  people.^  But,  apart  from  its  being 
doubtful  whether  this  subordinate  assisted  in  New  Testa- 
ment times,  he  could,  at  best,  only  represent  the  humble 
deacon,  not  the  leader  of  the  congregation.  Kor  does  it 
help  matters  if  the  name  "  angel "  be  held  to  refer  to  the 
presbyters  as  a  body,  including  the  deacons,  for  they  cer- 
tainly could  not  be  blamed  or  praised  for  the  sins  or 
merits  of  the  whole  church,  or  addressed  as  if  they  were 
the  whole  brotherhood.  On  these  various  grounds  I  can- 
not but  think  that  the  "angel,"  in  each  case,  is  only  a 
highly-wrought  symbol  or  personification  of  the  different 
churches  or  congregations  as  a  whole ;  this  use  being 
natural  among  people  accustomed  to  the  idea  of  the 
rabbis,  apparently  borrowed  from  Daniel,  that  each  com- 
munity, whether  a  State  or  a  smaller  entity,  had  a  pre- 
siding angel  as  its  prince,  who  was  virtually  identified 
with  it.2 

From  the  Ignatian  letters  it  is  clear  that  there  were 
churches  in  many  other  places  than  those  to  which  the 
epistles  are  addressed ;  for  instance,  in  Magnesia  and 
Tralles ;  the  former  only  about  fourteen  miles  from 
Ephesus,  on  the  great  eastern  road  which  came  into  it 
from  the  south ;  the  latter,  about  twenty  miles  east  of 
Magnesia,  on  the  same  high-road ;  so  that  the  seven 
churches  named,  must  be  taken  as  standing  for  all  the 
churches  collectively :  the  warnings  and  exhortations 
being,  doubtless,  more  or  less  applicable  to  them  all. 
While,  moreover,  each  epistle  has  details  of  its  own,  the 

^  Rosch.,  HascJi.  4.  9  ;  Gem.  f.  33  ;  Vitringa,  ^^ynag.  p.  903 ;  Schoettgen, 
Hon.  Hch.  ad  Apoc.  ii.  1  ;  Zimz,  Ritus.  6. 

2  Dan.  viii.  16  ;  X.  1  fif.  ;  xii.  1. 


202  THE  APOCAPYPSE 

one  aim  is  evident  throughout ;  to  prepare  the  brethren, 
everywhere,  for  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord,  which  is 
the  one  great  subject  of  the  book. 

IT.  1.   To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Ephesus  write  ; 

These  things  saith  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in  His 
right  hand,  He  that  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden 
candlesticks  :  2.  I  know  thy  works — the  "  fruits  "  of  thy  spiri- 
tual life  ^ — and  thy  toil  in  Christian  eflfort  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
patience  with  which  thou  earnest  them  out  with  all  en- 
durance, and  that  thou  canst  not  bear  evil  men,  who  walk 
contrary  to  the  truth,  either  ia  life  or  doctrine,  and  didst 
try  them  who  call  themselves  apostles,  and  they  are  not,  and 
didst  find  them  false — men  who,  like  the  false  apostles  at 
Corinth,^  give  themselves  out  as  sent  forth  by  our  Lord  Him- 
self, not  from  the  church  at  Jerusalem ;  ^  3.  and  thou  hast 
patience,  and  didst  bear  for  My  name's  sake,  and  hast  not 
grown  weary,  as  they  have.  4.  Yet  I  have  this  against 
thee,  that  thou  hast  left  the  glow  of  thy  first  love  of  God 
and  His  Christ,  5.  Remember,  therefore,  from  whence  thou 
art  fallen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first  works — works  then 
inspired  by  the  fervour  of  that  early  love — not,  as  now, 
merely  formal  and  cold ;  or  else  I  come  to  thee,  and  will  move 
thy  candlestick  out  of  its  place,  except  thou  repent.  6.  But 
this  thou  hast  to  thy  praise,  that  thou  hatest  the  works  of 
the  Nicolaitans,  which  I  also  hate.  7.  He  that  hath  an 
ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches 
as  a  whole. — To  him  that  overcometh,  to  him  will  I  give  to 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  Paradise  of  God. 

The  Nicolaitans  have  been  fancied  by  some,  with  no 
reason  beyond  the  name  of  the  sect,  to  have  sprung  from 
the  Deacon  Nicolas,  a  proselyte  to  Judaism,  from  Antioch, 
mentioned  in  Acts,  and  commended  as  a  man  "  full  of  the 
Spirit  and  of  wisdom.^     But  the  baleful  memory  of  having 

1  Matt.  vii.  16.  2  2  Cor.  xi.  13  fif. 

»  1  Cor.  i.  12.  ^  Acts  vi.  3,  5. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.    JOHN  THE  DIVINE  203 

introduced  into  the  churclies  corruptions  as  gross  as  those 
attributed  to  this  worthy,  is  unjust ;  for  there  can  be  no 
doubt  from  the  mention  of  the  Nicolaitans  along  with  a 
sect  which  held  doctrines  stigmatised  as  "  the  teach- 
ing of  Balaam,"  ^  that  the  two  were  alike  in  their  char- 
acter, and  akin  to  the  followers  of  the  woman  called 
Jezebel,  mentioned  soon  after.^  The  Nicolaitans,  in  fact, 
appear  to  have  been  heathen-minded  sensualists,  who  took 
advantage  of  St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  Christian  liberty,  to 
riot  in  impurity,  and  to  coquet  with  heathenism  ;  "  eating 
things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  committing  fornication."  ^ 

The  danger  to  the  future  of  the  faith  from  such  perver- 
sions of  Christianity,  was  portentous.  Society  was  every- 
where diseased.  Superstitions  from  all  quarters  flourished 
alongside  the  bitterest  and  most  unprincipled  scepticism, 
while  the  half-savagery  of  the  frontier  provinces,  the  de- 
moralisation caused  by  the  long  and  terrible  civil  wars, 
and  the  general  dissoluteness  marking  a  prurient  civili- 
sation, stimulated  everywhere  the  play  of  the  fiercest 
passions,  and  the  excesses  of  the  most  shameless  sen- 
suality. Tainted  more  or  less  by  these  surroundings, 
Christianity  had  become,  even  before  the  time  of  the 
Apocalypse,  partly  with  justice,  but,  much  more,  from  the 
unfounded  slanders  of  its  enemies,  a  byword  amongst 
even  the  better  spirits  of  the  day,  for  licentiousness  and 
fanaticism ;  the  hatred  roused  by  it,  from  its  hostility  to 
prevailing  vices,  no  less  than  the  injury  done  by  licentious 
sects  which  had  sprung  up  bearing  the  name  of  Christians, 
causing  it  to  be  regarded,  even  in  the  age  of  ISTero,  as  "  a 
hateful  superstition,"  disgraced  by  the  "shameful  and 
abominable  crimes  "  of  those  professing  it.*    Nor  did  even 

1  Rev.  ii.  14,  15.       -  Rev.  ii.  20.       ^  j^^y  [i  14^        4  rp^g^  ^^n.  xv.  44. 


204  THE   APOCALYPSE 

the  apostles  fail  to  condemn  in  the  strongest  language, 
the  monstrous  abuses  which  threatened  to  paralyse  their 
efforts.  They  speak  of  the  "  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
power,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders ; "  of  "  seducing 
spirits  and  teachings  of  demons,  who  speak  lies  and 
hypocrisy,  and  have  their  consciences  seared  with  a  hot 
iron."  ^     They  denounce  the  followers  of  these  heretics  as 


Site  of  Temple  of  Diana,  Ephesus.     [From  a  Photograph  by  H  G  Powell,  Esq.) 

"  the  synagogue  of  Satan,"  and  their  leaders  as  "  the  false 
prophet,"  and  the  "antichrists,"  ^  and  accuse  them,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  the  lewdness  of  Balaam  and  Jezebel. 

The  centre  of  this  putrefying  debasement  of  the  faith 
was  Ephesus,  with  its  mingling  of  Western  and  Oriental 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  9  ;  1  Tim   iv.  1. 
2  Pvev.  ii.  9,  13 ;  xvi.  13 ;  xvii.  13  ;  1  John  ii.  18. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  205 

races,  its  schools  of  magic,  its  great  Diana  temple,  its  large 
population  of  Jews,  not  a  few  of  whom  got  their  bread 
by  a  pretence  of  magic  powers  and  arts,  and  its  vast  popu- 
lace, so  densely  ignorant  and  wildly  superstitious  as  we 
see  from  the  piles  of  booklets  of  charms  and  spells  burned, 
during  Paul's  residence  in  the  city,  by  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  by  the  uproar  against  him,  in  connection 
with  his  supposed  attacks  on  Diana  worship.  His  fore- 
cast of  the  cloudy  future  before  the  local  church  was, 
therefore,  fully  justified.  No  wonder  that  in  such  a  city, 
and  amidst  such  a  moral  fermentation,  an  epistle  to 
the  church  at  Ephesus  should  be  needed. 

It  is  striking  to  notice  the  persistence  of  the  figure  of 
the  Tree  of  Life,  in  the  religious  imagery  of  widely-sepa- 
rated countries  and  ages.  India  has  the  Soma  tree,  guarded 
by  genii  armed  with  the  lightnings,  and  the  Sacred  Tree 
plays  a  great  part  in  the  legends  of  Western  Asia.  In 
Ecclesiasticus,  which  dates  from  about  two  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  the  blessed  "receive  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  immortality,"^  and  in  the  second  book  of  Esdras,  written 
about  the  same  time  as  the  Apocalypse,  Israel  is  to  "  have 
the  tree  of  life  for  a  smell  of  ointment,  and  they  shall 
neither  labour  nor  be  weary."  ^ 

Smyrna,  to  which  the  second  Epistle  is  addressed,  is 
still  an  important  city.  It  lies  on  the  south  side  of  a 
splendid  bay,  on  which  navies  could  float  securely  :  the 
island  of  Scio  rising,  in  the  distance,  to  the  west.  It  is 
about  half-way  down  the  west  side  of  Asia  Minor,  and,  as 
I  have  said,  about  thirty-two  miles  north  of  Ephesus,  and 
has  a  population  of  about  200,000,  made  up  of  a  medley 
of  nationalities  which  perhaps  fairly  reflects  its  character 

'  Ecclus.  xix.  9.  2  2  Esdras  ii.  12 


206 


THE  APOCALYPSE 


in  the  first  century,  when  the  sway  of  Kome  attracted 
people  of  all  races,  to  take  advantage  of  its  trading  im- 
portance, just  as  they  are  attracted  to  it  to-day,  in  spite 
of  the  rule  of  the  Turk.  The  community  embraces  50,000 
Mahommedans,  80,000  Greeks,  30,000  Armenians,  and 
perhaps  40,000  French,  Italians,  English,  Germans,  Aus- 
trians,  and  other  Europeans ;  these  last,  from  their  birth 


Smyrna.     (From  a  Photograph  by  H  G.  Powell,  Esq.) 


or  mixed  blood,  being  known  as  Levantines.  It  is  never- 
theless so  much  a  Greek  town,  that  Greek,  more  or  less 
pure,  is  spoken  by  all  but  the  Mahommedans.  A  Greek 
an  Armenian,  and  a  Eoman  Catholic  Archbishop  watch 
over  their  respective  flocks,  and  consuls  of  many  govern- 
ments protect  their  fellow-subjects.  A  line  of  showy 
cafes  and  hotels,  mixed  with  other  buildings,  rising  along 


THE  REVELATION   OF   ST.   JOHN   THE   DIVINE  207 

the  water  front,  hides  the  streets  behind,  but,  beyond  the 
business  city,  a  pleasant  suburb  climbs  the  hills  which 
form  the  near  background.  As  in  other  Eastern  cities, 
the  bazaars, — a  network  of  narrow,  ill-paved,  dirty  lanes, 
— form  the  great  business  centre  ;  Smyrna  being  now 
the  main  seat  of  interchange  of  European  and  Asiatic 
wares  and  products.  Everything  is  sold  in  these  dismal 
quarters,  and  they  doubtless  give  a  fair  picture,  in  the 
unchanging  East,  of  the  Smyrna  of  the  days  of  the 
Apostles.  The  recesses  that  serve  for  shops  have  no 
windows  ;  their  wares  or  goods  being  displayed  in  the 
mean  and  narrow  open  fronts ;  the  proprietor  often  sitting 
among  his  treasures,  smoking,  or  reading  the  Koran.  In 
one  "  shop  "  are  a  hundred  kinds  of  spices,  laid  out  in 
small  bowls,  on  rows  of  very  poor  shelves.  The  next  may 
sell  ancient  armour,  or  it  may  be  a  jeweller's,  a  money- 
broker's,  an  ironmonger's,  a  goldsmith's,  a  carpet-dealer's,  a 
draper's,  or  a  saddler's  The  butchers  alone  seemed  to  keep 
to  one  locality,  whicli  was  a  great  mercy,  for  their  shops, 
anywhere,  are  not  attractive  to  mere  sii^htseers,  and  are 
simply  revolting  in  the  East.  Tliere  is  so  little  display, 
however,  that  it  is  hard  to  think  of  the  city  as  the  com- 
mercial emporium  it  is.  The  Armenians  and  the  Jews 
have  each  their  own  quarters  in  the  Turkish  town,  which 
lies  behind  the  bazaars,  at  the  foot  of  the  hills ;  many 
thin  minarets  rising  in  this  part,  and  giving  picturesque- 
ness  to  the  tame  forecrround.  The  Government  buildincrs 
the  barracks,  and  the  prison  are,  also,  found  here,  but 
none  of  these  are  noteworthy,  and  none  of  the  mosques 
can  be  called  fine,  while  the  Moslem  prayer-houses  and 
Dervish  convents  are  poor  places.  Eight  churches,  several 
convents    and    synagogues,    many   lodging-houses,   rude 


208  THE  APOCALYPSE 

enough,  according  to  our  ideas ;  some  baths,  and  many 
coffee-houses,  complete  the  sights  of  the  town. 

To  aid  the  restoration,  in  the  mind, of  the  ancient  Smyrna, 
one  has  to  add  that,  at  the  present  time,  the  exports  in- 
clude cotton,  huge  acorn-cups,  drugs,  opium,  leeches,  figs, 
raisins,  and  other  fruits,  silk,  wool,  hides,  carpets,  cloth, 
and  small  wares  ;  in  the  sale  of  all  which,  and  doubtless 
much  more,  the  bustling  population  which  included  the 
Christians  to  whom  the  Epistle  in  the  Apocalypse  was 
addressed,  were  also  engaged  from  morning  to  night. 

The  situation  of  Smyrna  is  very  fine ;  an  amphitheatre 
of  hills  and  mountains  girding  in  the  wide  shores  of  the 
bay,  on  all  sides,  while  the  waters  themselves  lend  it  a 
never-wearying  charm.  Camels  lie  silently  in  the  streets, 
or  trudge  on  under  bulky  loads,  but  though,  here  and 
there,  one  meets  Oriental  costume,  European  dress  is 
much  more  common  ;  the  red  tarboosh,  however,  having  a 
monopoly  of  fashion  for  the  head.  Nor  are  the  women 
veiled  ;  indeed  I  do  not  remember  seeing  one  thus  covered 
up.  Such,  very  probably,  was  the  character  of  the  com- 
munity two  thousand  years  ago ;  the  dress  and,  we  may 
presume,  the  customs,  of  the  West,  largely  prevailing.  The 
ancient  city  must  have  been  much  finer,  however,  than  the 
present  one,  for  its  streets  were  broad  and  handsome,  well 
paved,  and  ran  at  right  angles,  and  there  were  a  number 
of  squares  and  porticoes,  a  public  library,  a  museum,  a 
stadium  in  which  Olympic  games  were  celebrated  with 
great  enthusiasm,  a  grand  mupic  -  hall  or  Odeium,  a 
Homereion,  and  m.any  temples,  of  which  the  most  famous 
was  that  of  the  Olympian  Jupiter,  in  which  the  reigning 
emperor  was  practically  the  god  worshipped;  Smyrna, 
like  Asia  Minor  generally,  being  devoted  to  that  servile 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.   JOHN   THE   DIVINE  209 

idolatry.  But,  strange  to  say,  the  city  had  the  evil  repu- 
tation of  being  undrained,  and  the  rains  strewed  the 
streets  with  the  refuse  of  the  houses  and  markets,  so  that 
it  could  not  have  been  either  clean  or  healthy.^  Yet  it 
boasted  of  a  boulevard,  known  as  the  Golden,  extending 
from  the  temple  of  the  Mother  of  Sipylos — the  parent  city 
of  Smyrna — quite  across  the  town  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter. 
From  this  and  other  embellishments  it  had  the  name  of 
being  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  "Asia,"  which  implies  that 
it  must,  as  a  whole,  have  been  very  magnificent.  Indeed 
it  contended  with  Ephesus  and  Pergamos  for  the  glory 
of  being  finer  than  they. 

By  whom  the  Christian  Church  in  it  was  founded  is 
not  known,  but  doubtless  it  was,  at  least  indirectly,  one 
of  the  fruits  of  Paul's  labours  in  these  regions. 

The  Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Smyrna. 

8.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Smyrna  write. 

These  things  that  follow,  saith  the  First  and  the  Last, 
who  was  dead  and  Uved  again  :  9.  I  know  thy  tribulation ' 
and  thy  poverty,  for  God  has  chosen  the  weak  and  base  and 
despised  things  of  the  world — things  beneath  men's  notice, 
as  they  think,  to  be  His  sons,^ — but  thou  art  in  reality,  rich, 
in  possessing  the  gospel,  and  I  know  the  blasphemy  against 
My  Name,  of  them  who  say  they  are  Jews  and  they  are  not, 
but  are  a  synagogue  of  Satan. 

No  particulars  respecting  the  Jews  in  Smyrna  survive, 
beyond  an  inscription;'^  but  such  a  money-making  city 
must  have  abounded  with  them.  Insanely  proud  of  their 
claim  to  be  the  people  of  God,  and  fanatically  zealous, 

1  Strabo.  -  Ciiap.  i.  9. 

3  1  Cor.  i.  27,  28.  *  Schurer,  li.  365. 

IV.  0 


210 


THE  APOCALYPSE 


alike  in  watching  the  interests  of  their  faith,  and  in  seek- 
ing proselytes,  to  be  upholders  of  the  presently-expected 
political  revolution  under  the  triumphant  Jewish  Messiah, 
they  not  only  scorned  Christianity,  as  a  religion  offered  to 
the  heathen  as  well  as  their  own  race,  but  hated  the 
Christians  as  rivals.      Everywhere,  blasphemies  against 


Prison  of  Polycarp  on  the  hill  at  Smyrna.     (From  a  Photographby 
Rev.  Dr.  F.  Tremlett.) 


Jesus,  and  shameful  calumnies  against  His  followers 
excited  the  authorities  to  suspicion,  or  even  active  perse- 
cution. Tumults,  raised  by  these  bitter  enemies,  con- 
tinually disturbed  the  public  peace ;  the  blame  for  them 
being  systematically  laid  on  the  Christians,  as  men  who 
turned  the  world  upside  down ;  ^  a  charge  which  must  have 

^  Acts  xvii.  6  ff. 


THE    REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  211 

been  specially  serious,  at  a  time  when  the  Eoman  authori- 
ties were  growing  alarmed  and  distrustful,  on  account  of 
the  state  of  things  in  Judfra.  They  called  their  synagogue 
a  synagogue  of  GJod,  but  John  denounces  it  as  a  synagogue 
of  Satan ;  their  hostility  to  the  truth  showing  them  to  be 
his  servants,  not  the  servants  of  Jehovah.  Nor  did  their 
frantic  hatred  quiet  down  as  years  passed,  for  it  was 
by  Jewish  incitement  that  Polycarp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna, 
was  done  to  death,  some  time  between  a.d.  147  and  A.i). 
175.  Indeed,  even  now,  when  the  Apocalypse  was  being 
written,and  Jerusalem  was  still  standing,  they  were  growing 
more  and  more  fierce ;  stirring  up,  as  we  presently  learn, 
a  local  persecution  which  brought  the  horrors  of  a  Eoman 
jail  and  even  martyrdom,^  on  some  Smyrna  Christians. 

10.  Fear  not  the  things  which  thou  shall  suffer  :  behold  the 
devil  is  about  to  cast  some  of  you  into  prison,  tliat  your  faith 
may  be  put  to  the  proof  by  him ;  in  hopas  of  tempting  you 
from  it  ;  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  for  ten  days,  that  is, 
for  a  brief  time.  You  may,  indeed,  be  called  to  lay  down 
your  lives,  hut  be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give 
thee  the  victor's  crown  of  life.  11.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let 
him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  seven  churches.  He 
that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second,  eternal, 
death,  after  that  of  the  body.^ 

The  city  of  Pergamum  or  Pergamos,  was  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  same  name,  till  it  was  incorporated  in  the 
Roman  Empire  and  made  a  Eoman  province, under  the  name 
of  "Asia,"  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  years  before  Christ. 
It  still  survives  as  the  modern  Bergamah  ;  a  very  poor  place, 
amidst  the  hovels,  burial-grounds,  khans,  and  mosques  of 
which  one  meets  the  ruins  of  triumphal  arches  and  bridges, 

^  Verses  10,  13.  =  ^i-^^^^  x.  28  ;  Rev.  xx.  6,  14  ;  xxi.  8. 


212 


THE  APOCALYPSE 


a  palace,  an  amphitheatre,  and  much  else,  scattered  over  a 
wide  circuit ;  the  ghosts  of  a  magnificence  long  departed. 
Lying  on  the  navigable  stream  of  the  Caicus,  three  miles 
from  the  sea,  the  ancient  city  was  embosomed  among  hills, 
the  highest  of  which,  in  the  city  limits,  became  its  acro- 
polis, and  was  crowned  by  a  strong  castle, — the  storehouse 
of  the  immense  treasures  of  Lysimachus,  one  of  the  high 


Pergamos. 

officers  attached  to  the  personal  staff  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  virtual  founder  of  Pergamos.  Below  this,facincr 
the  south-east  of  the  acropolis,  there  is  still  a  wall  of 
hewn  granite  at  least  a  hundred  feet  high,  let  into  the 
rock  behind,  supporting  vast  substructions,  once  forming  a 
platform  for  a  temple  of  Jupiter,  which  was  unrivalled  for 
grandeur  of  situation ;  being  visible,  at  once  from  the  vast 


THE  REVELATION   OF  ST.   JOHN  THE   DIVINE  213 

plain  of  the  Caicus  valley,  and  from  the  ^gean  Sea.  Nor 
was  it  less  famous  for  the  splendour  of  its  architecture, 
though  the  Christians  of  the  Apostolic  age  looked  on  it 
\\  ith  horror,  as  now  given  up  to  the  worship  of  the  Eoman 
emperor,  whose  statue  was  erected  in  it  and  worshipped ; 
making  the  temple,  in  their  eyes,  the  very  "throne  of 
Satan,"  of  whom  the  emperor,  thus  deified,  was  to  them 
the  visible  incarnation.  There  was,  besides,  a  famous 
temple  of  Esculapius,  already  ancient,  on  the  slopes  of  the 
acropolis,  visited  from  far  and  near  as  a  great  health  resort ; 
dreams  being,  as  was  believed,  granted  by  the  god  to  those 
consulting  his  shrine,  while  medical  advice  and  skill  were 
supplied  by  the  priests.  The  city  was  still,  in  the  second 
century,  a  town  of  120,000  inhabitants;  the  centre  of  a 
taxing  district,  and  of  a  Roman  seat  of  justice,  with  a  mint 
for  local  money ;  enjoying  an  extensive  commerce,  from 
lying  at  the  point  where  all  the  roads  met  which  ran 
through  western  Asia  Minor.  Yet  it  was  not  so  much  a 
business  city,  like  Ephesus  or  Corinth,  as,  in  a  way,  a 
union  of  a  pagan  cathedral  city,  a  university  town,  and  a 
royal  residence,  adorned,  for  generations,  by  a  succession  of 
kings  who  had  a  taste  for  splendour.  Two  tributaries  of 
the  Caicus  flowed  round  the  town  on  its  two  sides,  before 
uniting  with  the  main  stream,  and  thus  enabled  the  citizens 
10  embellish  the  streets  and  suburbs  with  every  charm  of 
garden  and  ornamental  planting;  making  it  without  a  rival 
for  beauty  in  the  province.  A  grove  of  surpassing  beauty 
sheltered  temples  to  Jupiter,  Athene,  Apollo,  Dionysus, 
and  Aphrodite,  whose  worship  was  another  word  for  law- 
less sensuality,  and  it  boasted,  in  addition,  a  noble  town- 
hall,  a  theatre,  a  gymnasium,  and  a  stadium,  the  grandeur 
of  which  those  may  fancy  who  have  seen  the  new  stadium 


214  THE   APOCALYPSE 

just  opened  at  Athens  ;  an  amphitheatre,  and  other  public 
buildings,  also  adding  to  the  general  splendour.  But  it 
had,  as  well,  its  cockpits  :  for  cock-fighting  was  one  of  the 
passions  of  the  citizens.  Its  pottery  was  in  great  repute, 
and  parchment  got  its  name  from  Pergamos  being  the 
place  where  it  was  first  made.  Originally  prepared  to 
gratify  the  passion  of  one  of  its  kings  for  literature,  it 
gradually  furnished  a  vast  library  with,  it  is  said,  200,000 
volumes  or  "  rolls,"  but  this  splendid  collection  had  been 
given  by  Antony  to  Cleopatra,  that  her  library  at  Alexan- 
dria might  have  no  rival,  and  that  library  had  been  burnt 
when  Caesar  stormed  the  Egyptian  city  ;  400,000  "  rolls," 
we  are  told,  being  destroyed. 

To  this  magnificent  city  the  next  Epistle  was  addressed, 
min sling  "  a  few  things  "  of  blame  in  the  local  Christians, 
with  commendation  for  general  worth.  Already  in  Philo's 
day  ^  Jews  were  to  be  found,  in  great  numbers,  in  every 
town  of  Proconsular  Asia;^  some  of  them,  it  is  believed, 
so  far  back  as  three  centuries  and  a  half  before  Christ,  and 
while  they  had  all  become  Greek  in  speech,  not  a  few  had 
also  become  so  in  spirit.^  Specially  favoured  by  Csesar, 
they  had  inherited  the  right  to  manage  their  own  affairs, 
and  to  hold  their  own  courts  for  Jewish  offences,  while 
also  free  from  military  service.  Enjoying  such  immunities 
and  privileges,  their  genius  for  getting  good  places  had 
raised  many  of  them  to  lucrative  posts,  such  as  that  of  chief 
farmers  of  the  taxes,  and  the  like,  and  their  commercial 
instincts  had  won  them  marked  success  in  countless  other 


^  Philo  appears  to  have  been  born  about  sixteen  years  before  Christ, 
and  lived  to  old  age,  so  that  he  was  a  later  contemporary  of  our  Lord. 
2  Philo,  Legal,  ad  Caium.  33  ;  Mang.  ii.  582. 
^  Jos.  cont.  Apion.  i.  22. 


THE  REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE  DIYINE  215 

ways  of  money -making.  But  this  prosperity,  amidst  a 
friendly  pagan  community,  had  led,  too  often,  to  unwhole- 
some results  in  their  religion  and  morals.  Visionary,  and 
not  seldom  immoral  views,  borrowed  from  Oriental  systems 
then  preached  by  wandering  mystagogues,  had  been  largely 
accepted,  and,  through  these  Jewish  converts  to  them,  had 
found  supporters  among  the  Christians,  some  of  whom  had 
learned,  in  this  way,  what  are  called,  interchangeably, 
"  the  doctrines  of  Balaam,"  or  "  of  the  Nicolaitans."  Adopt- 
ing these,  they  had  become  so  far  pagan  as  to  "  eat  things 
sacrificed  to  idols,  and  to  commit  fornication;"  sinning 
thus,  apparently,  on  the  principle  of  modern  Antinomians, 
that,  as  Christians,  they  were  safe,  and  could  use  their 
"  Christian  liberty  "  without  danger.  But  Christ  tells 
them  that  the  sharp  two-edged  sword  which  proceeds  out 
of  His  mouth  ^  would  be  used  against  those  who  sinned 
thus,  "  that  grace  might  abound."  The  bulk  of  the  local 
Christians,  however,  had  "  held  fast  by  His  Name,  and 
had  not  denied  His  faith,"  even  when  one  of  their  number 
had  been  put  to  death  for  his  fidelity ;  this  martyr  being, 
perhaps,  not  alone,  since  Eusebius  gives  us  the  names  of 
three  others  who,  he  says,  also  shed  their  blood  as  wit- 
nesses for  Christ  in  those  evil  days ;  ^  their  crime,  we  may 
feel  certain,  having  been,  the  refusal  to  worship  the  Beast, 
that  is,  the  emperor ;  then,  Nero.  That  the  eating  things 
sacrificed  to  idols  is  put  on  the  same  grade,  as  a  sin,  with 
fornication,  indicates  meanwhile,  the  ideas  of  a  strict 
Jewish  Christian,  and  recalls  the  much  more  forbearing 
views  of  St.  Paul  on  such  subjects.  The  closing  promises 
of  future  eternal  glory,  it  will  be  noticed,  are  varied  in 
this  Epistle  from  those  given  to  the  Christians  of  Ephesus 

1  Rev,  i.  16.  *  Euseb.  Hist.  Evan.  iv.  15. 


216  THE  APOCALYPSE 

and  Smyrna.  Instead  of  "  eating  of  the  tree  of  life,"  or 
having  "  the  crown  of  life,"  they  are  to  eat  of  the  "  hidden 
manna;"  a  phrase  derived,  perhaps,  from  the  Jewish  belief 
that  King  Josiah,  or  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  Solomon's  Temple,  hid  the  ark  and  the  pot  of 
manna,  with  the  other  wonders  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  to 
save  them  from  Nebuchadnezzar's  army.  These  had,  in 
the  end,  it  was  fancied,  been  carried  up  to  heaven,  and 
would  be  returned  to  earth  again  under  the  kingdom  of 
the  Messiah,  which  was  to  be  set  up  in  Jerusalem.  Yet, 
the  expression  may  simply  mean  that  they  should  eat 
angel's  food;^  manna  being  used  by  Christ  Himself  as  a 
symbol  of  the  heavenly  "  bread  "  with  which,  as  Messiah, 
He  nourished  His  followers.^  They  were,  moreover,  to 
receive  a  "  white  stone "  and  "  a  new  name ; "  mystic 
emblems  which  speak  of  their  future  reward.  They  would 
draw  from  the  urn  of  destiny  the  "  white  stone  "  which, 
in  their  every  -  day  life,  marked  good  fortune,  and  in 
their  case,  indicated  the  favour  of  God:  this  stone, 
moreover,  securing  them  entrance  to  the  joys  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  as  a  similar  one,  here,  admitted 
to  festivities  or  public  rejoicings.  The  new  name  to  be 
given  to  him  who  overcomes,  will,  we  are  told,  be  written 
on  this,  but  will  remain  a  secret  to  him  till  he  enters  on 
his  eternal  bliss.  It  is,  thus,  new,  since  it  will  be  known, 
first,  only  after  death;  no  human  word  being  able  to 
express  the  glories  heaven  will  reveal ;  and  it  is  known 
only  to  him  who  receives  it,  for  the  soul  alone  realises  its 
own  felicity.  It  is  curious,  however,  to  remember,  as 
showing  the  recurrence,  in  John's  mind,  of  the  imagery  of 
the  ancient  Scriptures,  that  the  giving  "  a  new  name  "  had 

1  Ps.  Ixxviii.  25.  2  JqIj^  ^i^  31^  32. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DIYINE  217 

already  been  promised  in  Isaiah,  to  the  Israel  of  the 
Keturn;^  the  people  being  called  Hephzibah,  and  the  land, 
Beulah.  The  adoption  of  the  new  name  of  Christians  by 
the  converts  at  Antioch  had,  indeed,  already  familiarised 
the  idea.2 

Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Pergamos. 

12.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Pergamos  write ; 

These  things  saith  He  that  hath  the  sharp  two-edged  sword  : 
13.  I  know  where  thou  dwellest,  even  where  Satan's  throne 
is :  and  thou  boldest  fast  My  name,  and  didst  not  deny  My 
faith,  even  in  the  days  of  Antipas,  My  witness,  My  faithful 
one,  who  was  killed  among  you,  where  Satan  dwelleth.  14. 
But  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  there 
some  that  hold  the  teaching  of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balak  to  cast 
a  stumbHng- block  before  the  children  of  Israel ;  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  to  idols,  and  to  commit  fornication.  15.  So  hast 
thou,  also,  some  that  hold  the  teaching  of  the  Nicolaitans  in 
like  manner.  16.  Bepent  therefore;  or  else  I  come  to  thee 
quickly,  and  I  will  make  war  against  them  with  the  sword  of 
My  mouth.  17.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  to  the  churches.  To  him  that  overcometh,  to  him 
will  I  give  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  I  will  give  him  a  white 
stone,  and  upon  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which  no  one 
knoweth  but  he  that  receiveth  it. 

The  separate  mention  of  the  doctrine  or  teaching  of 
Balaam,  and  that  of  the  Nicolaitans,  shows  that,  though 
alike  in  their  leading  features,  the  two  sects  were  by 
no  means  identical.  That  the  Greek  name  "Nicolaos" 
corresponds  in  meaning  with  the  Hebrew  word  "  Bilam," 
or  "  Balaam,"  has  been  fancied  by  some  to  imply  that  they 
were  the  same,  but  it  may  simply  mean  that  the  name 

1  Isa.  Ixii.  2;  Ixv.  15.  ^  Acts  xi.  26. 


218  THE  APOCALYPSE 

was  given  to  the  Nicolaitans  from  that  of  the  heresiarch, 
now  otherwise  unknown,  from  whom  they  sprang. 

Thyatira,  to  which  the  next  Epistle  is  addressed,  was 
a  town  of  no  special  distinction,  about  fifty  miles,  south- 
west by  west,  from  Pergamos,  in  a  plain  on  the  river 
Lycus.  It  was  a  Macedonian  colony,  which  explains 
the  presence  of  Lydia  in  Philippi,  with  which  city  Thya- 
tira would  necessarily  stand  in  the  friendliest  relations. 
It  was  famous  for  its  purple  dyeworks,  and  its  position  on 
the  trade  road  opened  by  the  Eomans  between  Sardis  and 
Pergamos,  gave  it  commercial  and  military  importance. 
It  belonged  to  the  judicial  district  of  Pergamos.  Ee- 
mains  of  ancient  splendour  lie  broadcast  over  its  site, 
many  fragments  of  marble  pillars  still  remaining ;  not  a 
few  converted  into  drinking  troughs  for  flocks  and  cattle, 
or  put  at  the  mouth  of  wells.  The  town  still  contains 
about  24,000  inhabitants,  and,  in  the  lazy  Turkish  way, 
has  some  business,  but  nothing  in  comparison  to  what  it 
should  have  in  such  a  glorious  situation,  with  its  flowing 
waters,  its  embaying  hills,  and  its  splendid  climate. 

By  whom  the  church  in  Thyatira  had  been  founded  is 
not  told  us,  for  the  greatest  benefactors  of  mankind  have, 
as  a  rule,  little  more  reward  on  earth  than  the  conscious- 
ness of  having  tried  to  do  their  duty.  Was  it  Lydia, 
returning  to  her  own  town,  who  sowed  the  seeds  in  it 
of  the  faith  she  had  so  zealously  embraced  at  Philippi  ? 
In  any  case,  the  brotherhood  evidently  consisted  mainly 
of  heathen  converts,  for  it  is  hard  to  imagine  pure  Jews 
as  eating  things  sacrificed  to  idols.^  Jesus,  who  speaks 
through  John,  had  already  been  described  by  him  as  seen, 

1  Ver.  20. 


< 

< 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  221 

in  vision,  as  "  like  unto  a  son  of  man,"  but  with  eyes  as 
a  flame  of  fire,  and  feet  like  burnished  brass.^  Now, 
however,  while  repeating  this  He  calls  Himself  expressly, 
"  the  Son  of  God,"  as  was  fitting,  since  He  is  about  to 
threaten  the  local  evil-doers  with  the  terrors  of  His  divine 
power.  2  His  flame-like  eyes  pierce  through  all  things,  as 
the  awful  Judge,  and  His  feet,  like  shining  brass,  will  tread 
to  dust  all  that  is  unholy  or  opposed.  He  has  much  to 
praise,  for  He  knows  their  works  of  many  kinds — their 
love  to  God  and  man,  their  faith,  their  service  in  all 
ministries  in  the  church  and  the  community,  and  their 
patient  endurance ;  in  all  which  they  were  steadily  ad- 
vancing, since  their  latest  works  were  more  than  the  first 
They  were,  however,  guilty  of  suffering  a  corrupting  teacher 
— a  woman, — whom  He  denounces  by  the  hateful  name  of 
Jezebel,  the  introducer  of  Baal  worship  into  Israel, — to  lead 
some  of  their  number  astray.  She  even  claimed  to  be  "  a 
prophetess,"  that  is,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  was 
used  in  apostolic  days,  one  who  spoke  under  a  divine 
impulse,  revealing  deeper  aspects  of  the  truth,  communi- 
cated directly  from  God.  Her  teaching  is  said  to  be  the 
same  as  that  of  the  sects  already  so  sternly  condemned, 
and  her  guilt  was  aggravated  by  her  not  having  repented, 
though  time  had  been  graciously  allowed  her  to  do  so. 
For  all  this,  she  would  be  thrown  on  a  bed  of  sickness, 
instead  of  wicked  grossness,  while  those  who  followed  her 
in  her  unholy  teaching  would  be  visited  with  great  tribu- 
lation, unless  they  repented  of  their  participation  in  her 
immoral  doctrines.  Jesus  would,  indeed,  kill  them  by  the 
"  plague  "  or  "  pestilence,"  ^  and  all  the  churches,  far  and 

^  Rev.  i.  14,  15.  ^  See  ver.  27,  compared  with  Ps.  ii.  9. 

*  Rev.  vl  8 ;  xviii.  8 ;  Jer.  xiv.  12 ;  xxi.  6,  7 ;  Ezek.  xxxiil  27. 


222  THE   APOCALYPSE 

near,  would  know  that  He  who  thus  threatened  and 
punished,  was  He  who  searches  the  reins  and  hearts,  and 
is  thus  able,  by  His  omniscience,  to  give  every  one  of  them 
according  to  their  works,  whether  good  or  evil.  The 
faithful  in  Thyatira,  though  they  may  know  much  of  the 
deep  things  of  God,  know  nothing  of  those  deep  things  of 
the  devil,  taught  by  this  woman.  She  has  pretended  to 
special  insight  or  "gnosis,"  but  it  has  revealed  only  the 
secrets  of  the  pit  to  her,  not  of  heaven — and  He  will,  there- 
fore, cast  on  the  brethren  no  other  burden  than  the 
abstaining  from  eating  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  from 
fornication,  as  laid  down  in  the  decree  of  the  Jerusalem 
conference.^  They  must,  however,  hold  fast  what  they 
have  of  the  truth,  till  He  come,  and  then  He  will  give  to 
him  who  does  so,  a  share  in  the  authority  over  the  heathen 
nations  which  He  has  received  from  His  Father;  ruling 
them  with  Him — in  the  words  of  the  Psalm,^  with  an 
iron  mace,  and  shivering  them  in  pieces,  when  they  oppose 
Him,  as  the  clay  vessels  of  the  potter  are  shattered  by  a 
blow.  Nor  is  this  all.  He  will  also  give  him  who  over- 
comes, the  morning  star — so  that  they  will  shine  with  Him, 
in  the  same  glory  as  Himself;  for  He  Himself  is  "  the  bright 
and  the  morning  star."^  Startling  as  this  appears,  it  is 
only  what  is  often  repeated  in  the  New  Testament ;  *  our 
Lord,  the  apostles,  and  the  Apocalypse  alike  dwelling  on 
this  special  exaltation  of  true  Christians  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  Messiah,  then  conceived  as  close  at  hand.  It  is 
worthy  of  note,  moreover,  that  the  angels  of  the  churches 
are  all  addressed  directly,  as  independent,  without  any 
mention  of  a  central  authority. 

1  Acts  XV.  29.  2  pg^  ji^  3^  9^ 

^  1  John  iii.  2  ;  Rev.  xxii.  16. 
:Matt.  xix.  28 ;  Luke  xxii.  29,  30 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  3  ;  Rev.  iii.  21 ;  xx.  4. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  223 

Epistle  to  the  Church  at  Thyatira. 

18.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  chmch  in  Thyatira  wriie; 

These  things  saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  His  eyes  like 
a  flame  of  fire,  and  His  feet  are  like  unto  burnished  brass  : 
19.  I  know  thy  works  and  thy  love,  and  faith,  and  ministry 
to  the  saints,  and  patience,  and  that  thy  last  works  are  even 
more  than  the  first.  20.  But  I  have  this  against  thee,  that 
thou  sufferest  the  woman  Jezebel,  who  calleth  herself  a 
prophetess,  speaking  as  from  God;  and  she  teaches  and 
seduces  My  servants  to  commit  fornication,  and  to  eat,  at 
home,  or  at  supper-parties  of  friends,  sometimes  idolaters, 
or  at  feasts  in  the  precincts  of  idol  temples,  things  sacrificed 
to  idols.  21.  And  I  gave  her  time  that  she  should  repent; 
and  she  willeth  not  to  repent  of  her  fornication.  22. , Behold, 
I  throw  her  into  a  sick-bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery 
with  her,  into  great  tribulation,  except  they  repent  of  her 
works.  23.  And  I  will  kill  her  children  with  death,  that  is, 
the  plague ;  and  all  the  churches  shall  know  that  I  am  He 
who  searches  the  reins  and  hearts :  and  I  will  give  to  each 
one  of  you  according  to  your  works.  24.  But  to  you  I  say, 
that  is,  to  the  rest  of  the  brethren  in  Thyatira, — as  many  as 
have  not  embraced  this  teaching,  and  who  thus  know  not 
the  deep  things  of  Satan,  as  they  say  they  do,  for  though 
they  call  them  the  deep  things  of  God,  I  call  them  the 
deep  things  of  the  devil ;  I  cast  upon  you  no  other  burden 
than  the  truth  already  delivered  to  you.  25.  Howbeit, 
that  which  ye  have,  hold  fast  till  I  come  —  for  I  come 
shortly.  26.  And  then  he  that  overcometh,  and  he  that 
keepeth  My  works  to  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  authority 
over  the  heathen  nations :  27.  and  he  shall  rule  them  with  a 
rod  of  iion,  as  the  vessels  of  the  potter  are  broken  to  shivers ; 
MS  I  also  have  received  appointment  to  do  of  My  Father:^ 
28.  and  I  will  give  him  the  morning  star.^  29.  He  that  has 
an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches. 

1  Ps.  ii.  8,  9. 

^  In  Isa.  xiv.  12,  Babylon  is  called  Lucifer — the  Shining  One,  or  the 


224  THE  APOCALYPSE 

8ardis,  to  which  the  next  Epistle  is  addressed,  though 
now  only  a  mean  hamlet,  in  the  midst  of  widespread 
ruins,  was,  in  the  first  century,  a  city  of  great  importance. 
It  lay  on  a  fruitful  plain,  glorified,  as  usual  in  Western 
Asia  Minor,  by  a  background  of  noble  mountains.  Its 
site  was,  indeed,  at  the  foot  of  the  northern  side  of  these, 
and  enclosed,  as  its  acropolis  or  citadel,  an  almost  in- 
accessible rock,  standing  out,  singularly,  from  them : 
fragments  of  the  triple  walls  of  this  fortress  still  remain- 
ing. Sardis  had  been  the  capital  of  the  Lydian  monarchy 
till  taken  by  the  Persians  under  Cyrus,  in  A.D.  549  ;  its 
last  king  having  been  Croesus,  famed  for  his  wealth. 
The  ruins  of  a  stadium,  a  town-hall,  a  temple  of  Cybele, 
the  local  Diana,  an  open-air  theatre,  and  two  grand  pillars 
of  the  old  palace,  still  bear  witness  to  the  luxury  and 
splendour  of  the  ancient  city.  The  streamlet  Pactolus, 
with  its  once  gold-bearing  sand,  still  murmurs  northwards 
across  the  silent  plain,  on  its  course  from  the  long 
mountain  range  of  Tmolus,  to  the  river  Hermus ;  these 
mountains  bending  in  a  gentle  arc,  of  which  the  highest 
swell  looked  down  on  Sardis  at  its  feet ;  the  Hermus 
gliding  westward,  five  miles  off,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
walls,  while  the  vast  necropolis  of  early  ages  still  shows 
itself  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  by  countless  burial 
mounds.  Roads  from  Pergamos,  Smyrna,  and  Ephesus 
met  at  Sardis,  and  others  branched  off  from  it  in  various 

Morning  Star,  as  having,  in  its  pride,  vaunted,  in  the  poetical  language  of 
the  prophet,  to  "ascend  into  heaven,"  and  there  "exalt  his  throne  above 
the  stars  of  God,"  the  deities  of  its  national  worship,  "  and  to  sit  on  the 
mountain  of  the  assembly" — of  these  gods — the  Babylonian  Olympus, 
which  is  "in  the  recesses  of  the  north."  In  the  Apocalypse  the  name  of 
the  Morning  Star  is  transferred  to  Him  who  has,  truly,  not  in  vain  boast, 
done  all  this. 


Si 


TV. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  227 

directions,  bringing  it  into  close  communication  with  all 
parts  of  the  country  ;  for  Asia  Minor  was  then  as  marked 
by  its  teeming  population,  its  many  towns,  cities,  and 
villages,  and  its  great  prosperity,  as  it  now  is  by  the 
dismal  opposite  of  all  these.  The  city  lay  about  sixty 
miles,  in  a  straight  line,  south-east  from  Pergamos,  about 
fifty  miles  east  of  Smyrna,  and  nearly  the  same  distance 
north-east  of  Ephesus.  The  houses  being  for  the  most 
part  thatched  with  reeds,  it  had  repeatedly  been  more  or 
less  destroyed  by  fire,  and  so  recently  as  in  the  reign  of 
Tiberius,  had  been  so  injured  by  a  great  earthquake,  that 
it  was  only  rebuilt  by  a  grant  of  imperial  assistance.^  Its 
pride  and  luxury  as  the  capital  of  a  plutocrat  like  Croesus, 
and  then  of  the  Persian  satraps,  had,  for  centuries,  become 
a  byword.  In  such  a  busy  trade  centre  there  were,  of 
course,  Jews  in  large  numbers ;  not  a  few  enjoying  the 
honour  of  Roman  citizenship,  while  very  many  were  free- 
men of  the  city.  They  were  allowed  to  govern  them- 
selves, subject  to  the  laws,  by  their  own  customs  and 
authorities,  and  they  had  full  liberty  of  worship.  Indeed 
there  is  still  extant,  in  Josephus,  a  municipal  vote  of  the 
town  council,  granting  them  an  assigned  place  for  "build- 
ing and  dwelling  in."  ^  As  a  military  centre,  its  position 
gave  Sardis  more  importance  than  any  other  place  in 
Asia.  After  the  fall  of  the  Persian  Empire  it  had  become 
the  seat  of  the  viceroys  of  the  Syro-Greek  kings,  but  it 
afterwards  rather  faded  before  the  glories  of  Pergamos. 
Yet  it  boasted  of  a  mint,  was  an  assize  town,  and  had  the 
rank  of  a  "  metropolis."  Of  the  origin  of  the  local  church 
we  know  nothing,  but  churches  must,  in  those  days,  have 
sprung  up  in  many  places  which  no  apostles  had  visited, 

^  Strabo,  lib.  xii.  2  jQg_  ^^^^  xiv.  14,  24. 


228  THE   APOCALYPSE 

since  access  to  the  synagogue  in  the  first  days  of  Chris- 
tianity gave  its  missionaries  an  opportunity  of  "  preaching 
the  word "  or  "  proclaiming  the  Christ "  ^  everywhere. 
Even  women,  indeed,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of 
the  one  denounced  as  Jezebel,  at  Thyatira,  and  in  the 
daughters  of  St.  Philip,  at  Hierapolis,  were  very  effective 
propagandists. 

Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Sardis. 

III.  1.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Sardis  write; 

These  things  saith  He  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God, 
the  angels  of  the  presence,  or  the  sevenfold  graces  and 
energies  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  exhorting,  punishing,  warning, 
comforting,  and  promising,  and  who  has  also  the  seven  stars, 
the  angels  of  the  seven  churches,  in  His  right  hand,  as  His 
own,  to  guard,  to  sustain,  to  rule.^  I  know  thy  works,  that 
thou  hast  a  name  that  thou  livest,  and  yet  thou  art  dead. 
2.  Be  thou  watchful,  and  stablish  the  things  that  remain, — 
those  graces  thou  still  possessest,  and  those  members  of  the 
church  still  faithful ;  things  and  persons  which  were  ready 
to  die  when  I  searched  into  your  state :  ^  for  I  have  found 
no  works  of  thine  full,  to  the  measure  required  before  My 
God.  3.  Remember,  therefore,  how  thou  hast  received,  and 
didst  hear,  for  thou  didst  hear  with  holy  zeal,  which  has  now 
cooled  down,  and  keep  it,  henceforth,  and  repent  having 
lost  it.  If,  therefore,  thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come  as  a 
thief,*  and  thou  shalt  not  know  what  hour  I  will  come  upon 
thee.  4.  But  thou  hast  a  few  names  in  Sardis  who  have  not 
defiled  their  garments  by  following  the  Nicolaitans,  or  falling 
into  other  sin :  and  they  shall  walk  with  Me  in  My  kingdom 
in  white  garments,  for  they  are  worthy,  and  white  robes  are 
the  array  of  the  blessed,  and  symbols  of  perfected  holiness 
and  victory,  fitting  their  entrance  to  the  presence  of  God  ; 

1  Acts  viii.  4,  5.  ^  Rev.  i.  4,  16,  20. 

"  Rev.  ii.  18.  ^  Matt.  xxiv.  42  S. 


THE  REVELATION   OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  229 

for  robes  of  honour  are  always  given  those  admitted  to  see 
the  face  of  the  kings  of  earth,  and  how  much  more  to  those 
whoare  to  behold  the ^ing  eternal?  5.  He  that  overcometh, 
fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith  victoriously  to  the  end,  shall 
thus  be  arrayed  in  white  garments ;  and  I  will  in  no  wise 
blot  his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  I  will  confess  his 
name  before  My  Father,  and  before  His  angels.^  6.  He  that 
hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the 
churches. 

Philadephia,  to  which  the  next  Epistle  is  addressed,  was 
a  city  of  Lydia,  named  after  its  founder,  Attalus  Phila- 
delphus,  King  of  Pergamos.  It  lay  about  thirty  miles 
nearly  east  of  Sardis,  on  the  same  high-road,  in  a  broad 
fruitful  valley  which  was  a  continuation  of  the  great 
plain  through  which  the  Hermus  glides  westwards,  along 
the  foot  of  the  ranges  of  Tmolus  and  Sipylus ;  to  fall  into 
the  bay  of  Smyrna,  at  its  northern  edge.  It  was  a  rich, 
flourishing,  splendid  city,  known  as  "  Little  Athens " 
from  its  love  of  learning.  Under  the  Eomans  it  was  the 
centre  of  a  taxing  district,  and  an  assize  town,  honoured 
to  have  the  provincial  festivals  held  in  it,  in  its  turn,  as 
belonging  to  the  province  of  "  Asia."  It  is  still  a  pretty 
large,  though  mean  town ;  the  ruins  in  and  round  it, 
showing  how  far  it  has  fallen  from  its  ancient  prosperity. 
Situated  in  an  actively-volcanic  district,  it  frequently 
suffered  from  violent  earthquakes,  which  required  its 
being  more  or  less  rebuilt :  indeed,  it  had  been  destroyed 
in  the  great  convulsion  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius. ^     Parts 

1  Ps.  Ixix.  28  ;  Exod.  xxxii.  32,  33  ;  Dan.  xii.  1.  The  Jews  had,  from 
these  passages,  come  to  the  belief  that  all  the  good  works  of  each  Jew 
were  written  down  in  heavenly  books,  his  judgment  at  the  last  day  being 
decided  from  that  record.  (Enoch  xcviii.  7-8 ;  civ.  7,  89,  90.  The 
Book  of  Jubilees,  in  Ewald's  Jahrbueh,  iii.  38.) 

2  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  47. 


230 


THE   APOCALYPSE 


of  its  ancient  walls  are  still  standing,  and  the  ruins  of 
twenty-four  cliurclies  witness  to  its  having   long   been  ' 
faithful  to  Christ. 

A  small  and  poor  but  true-hearted  church  had  been 


,-v->^v-=-  ^S 


^■^'i  -J 


,   \h,.  III       »'^j 


Philadelphia. 


founded  here,  it  is  not  said  by  whom  or  how  early,  but, 
like  the  church  at  Smyrna,  it  had  much  to  bear  from  the 
ill-will  of  the  local  Jews.  Its  fidelity  was  now  rewarded 
and  honoured,  in  loving  recognition  of  the  past,  and  as  a 
stimulus  to  continued  loyalty  to  their  faith  in  the  future. 


THE   REVELA.TION   OF   ST.    JOHN   THE   DIVINE  231 

Their  blaspheming  and  insulting  enemies,  the  Jews  of  the 
city,  who  were  indeed,  they  are  told,  only  Jews  in  name ; 
belonging  not,  as  they  claimed,  to  the  synagogue  of  God, 
but  to  that  of  the  devil :  would,  in  part,  at  least,  be  won 
over  to  Christianity  by  the  proofs  shown  in  the  lives  of 
the  local  brethren  that  Christ,  the  speaker,  loves  them, 
though  so  reviled  They  would  see,  moreover,  that  instead 
of  His  being,  as  they  had  shamefully  asserted,  an  impostor 
and  a  crucified  malefactor.  He  is  indeed  the  holy  and  true 
Messiah,  to  whom,  as  such,  had  been  committed  "  the  key 
of  David ;  "  supreme  authority  in  the  kingdom  of  God, — 
symbolised  as  that  new  "kingdom  of  heaven,"  to  be  set 
up  at  His  coming, — being  committed  to  His  rule ;  to  admit 
to  it  or  shut  out  from  it,  whom  He  judged  worthy  or  the 
reverse.  The  brethren  and  the  Jews  would  alike  under- 
stand, at  once,  what  was  meant  by  "the  key  of  David;  " 
their  familiarity  with  the  ancient  Scriptures,  through  con- 
stantly hearing  them  read  in  the  synagogue  and  the 
Christian  assembly,  doubtless  making  them  remember  the 
incident  in  Isaiah,  in  which  the  key  of  "the  house,"  or 
"  palace  "  of  David  is  taken  from  Shebna,  the  high  pre- 
fect of  the  palace,  through  whom  alone  any  one  could  be 
admitted  to  it.  The  words  used  of  the  transfer  were  in 
fact,  identical  with  those  now  used  by  Christ,  for  it  was 
said  in  Isaiah,  by  God,  that  "  He  would  lay  the  key  of  the 
house  of  David  on  the  shoulder  of  Eliakim,"  the  new  pre- 
fect, as  the  symbol  of  his  investiture  in  the  office,  "  so  that 
he  shall  open,  and  none  shall  shut :  and  he  shall  shut,  and 
none  shall  open."^  As  the  earthly  dignitary  had  this 
power  in  the  house  of  David  on  Mount  Zion,  Christ,  Him- 
self the  David  of  the  spiritual  Israel,  the  kingdom  of  the 

1  Isa.  xxii.  22. 


232  THE   APOCALYPSE 

Messiah,  had  the  same  authority  in  the  Church — the 
"house  of  God."  Accepting  the  invitations  of  His  grace, 
some  even  of  the  Jews  would  come  and  worship  before 
the  feet  of  the  Philadelphian  church,  that  is,  pay  it  all 
humble  reverence,  and  thus  meekly  crave  permission  to 
take  the  modest  place  of  new  converts  ^  in  the  assembly. 
Because  the  church  has  patiently  clung  to  its  faith,  Christ 
next  tells  them,  He  will  keep  them  from  the  hour  of  trial, 
or  temptation  to  fall  away,  which  is  to  come  upon  all  the 
world,  to  test  the  faithfulness  of  "  them  that  dwell  upon 
the  earth."  It  had  been  foretold  that  dark  times  of  trouble 
would  precede  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,^  and,  in  accord- 
ance with  this,  they  would  very  soon  be  put  to  the  sore 
test  of  being  required  to  worship  the  Beast,  that  is,  the 
emperor  ;^  greater  weight  being  henceforth  laid  on  their 
refusing  this  hated  demand ;  but  they  would  be  saved  out 
of  all,  and,  moreover,  He,  Jesus,  would  shortly  appear,  and 
when  He  came — if  they  had  held  fast  to  the  truth,  letting 
no  man  rob  them  of  their  promised  crown,  by  leading  them 
to  apostatise, — they  would  be  made  a  pillar  in  the  temple 
of  God, — the  glorified  Church — and  have  the  name  of  the 
city  of  God  written  on  them — the  New  Jerusalem, — as  its 
citizens,  and  as  belonging  to  God  Himself  for  ever, — when 
the  Holy  City  came  down  from  heaven,  from  God :  *  that 
city  which  had  no  temple  in  it ;  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
and  the  Lamb  being  its  temple.^  And,  further,  they 
would  have  Christ's  own  new  name  written  on  them,  as 
of  the  number  of  those  given  to  Him  by  the  Father. 

1  1  Cor.  xiv.  16.  2  Matt.  xxiv.  21-24. 

»  Rev.  xiii.  14-17.  ^  j^^v.  xxi.  2. 

^  Rev.  xxi.  22. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.    JOHN  THE  DIVINE  233 


Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Philadelphia. 

7.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia  write ; 

These  things  saith  He  that  is  holy,  He  that  is  true, — not 
what  the  unbelieving  blasphemously  say, — who  has  the  key 
of  David,  He  that  opens,  and  none  shall  shut ;  and  that  shuts, 
and  none  opens — admitting  or  excluding  from  the  kingdom  of 
God,  as  supreme  Judge  :  8.  I  know  thy  works — behold,  I  have 
set  before  thee  a  door  opened,  which  none  can  shut ;  I  know 
thy  works,  I  say,  that  though  thou  art  weak  and  poor,  thou 
hast  a  little  power  for  good,  and  hast  faithfully  used  it,  and 
didst  keep  My  word  and  didst  not  deny  My  name.  These  thy 
faithful  works  have  even  influenced  thine  enemies  for  good, 
and  as  their  reward,  9.  behold  I  give  thee  as  converts,  some 
of  the  synagogue  of  Satan,  of  them  who  say  they  are  Jews, 
and  they  are  not,  but  do  lie :  behold,  I  give  thee  some  of 
them,  and  will  make  them  come  and  worship  before  thy  feet, 
and  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.  10.  Because  thou  didst 
keep  the  word  of  My  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the 
hour  of  trial,  that  hour  which  is  to  come  upon  the  whole  world, 
to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth.  11.  I  come  quickly: 
hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast,  that  no  one  take  thy  crown. 
12.  He  that  overcometh,  I  will  make  him  a  pillar  in  the 
temple  of  My  God,  and  he  shall  go  out  thence  no  more:  and, 
as  kings  write  their  names  on  the  pillars  of  earthly  temples, 
I  will  write  upon  him  the  name  of  My  God,  and  the  name  of 
the  city  of  My  God,  the  New  Jerusalem,  which  comes  down 
out  of  heaven  from  My  God — enrolling  him  as  a  citizen,  with 
all  its  honours  and  privileges,  and  I  will  write  on  him.  My 
own  new  name,  as  of  My  brethren,  and  as  My  own.  13.  He 
that  has  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches. 

Laodicea,  in  Phrygia,  to  which  the  last  of  the  seven 
Epistles  was  addressed,  named  after  Laodice,  the  queen  of 
Antiochus  II.,  was  one  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  province 


234  THE  APOCALYPSE 

of  "  Asia  :"  its  manufactures  and  general  commerce  being 
so  great  that  when  it  was  destroyed  by  the  memorable 
earthquake  in  the  year  61,  the  citizens,  proud  of  their 
wealth,  at  once  rebuilt  it,  without  any  assistance  from 
outside.^  Indeed,  this  Epistle  to  the  local  Christians 
implies  that  even  they  boasted  of  their  riches ;  a  very  un- 
usual thing  for  the  members  of  a  church  in  those  days. 
Laodicea  was  one  of  the  three  cities  already  mentioned  as 
close  together:  the  other  two  being  Colosse  and  Hierapolis, 
— on  the  swift  waters  of  the  river  Lycus,  which  flow  into 
the  Meander.  It  lay  on  a  long  spur  of  a  hill,  each  side 
of  which  is  watered  by  a  small  stream  which  presently 
falls  into  the  hurrying  river.  A  taste  for  Greek  art, 
created  by  its  wealth,  adorned  not  only  its  private  man- 
sions, but  its  public  buildings  and  open  spaces,  with  count- 
less statues,  and  its  ruins  still  show  the  long-eclipsed 
magnificence  of  its  architecture,  at  least  in  its  leading 
edifices,  and  it  was  also  famous  for  its  scientific,  medical, 
and  literary  schools.  There  were,  of  course,  many  Jews 
in  a  place  so  favourable  for  making  money,  but  they  are 
not  mentioned  as  causing  any  special  trouble  to  the  Chris- 
tians. Thanks  to  the  barbarism  of  the  Turk,  the  once 
splendid  city  has  long  ago  vanished,  and  its  site  has  now 
nothing  attractive ;  dull,  barren,  round-topped  hills,  near 
and  far  off,  adding  to  the  feeling  of  desolation.  Nor  do 
its  widely-  scattered  ruins  arrest  the  eye,  for  they  lie 
strewn  in  grey,  monotonous  wreck.  Yet  they  show  the 
outlines  of  the  old  stadium,  the  gymnasium,  and  of  several 
theatres,  of  which  one  is  in  excellent  preservation.  The 
remains  of  other  buildings  are  to  be  seen  on  the  top  of 
the  town  hill,  and  the  skeleton  of  a  gateway,  with  traces 
1  Tac.  Arm.  xiv.  27. 


THE  REVELATION  OF  ST.   JOHN  THE  DIVINE  237 

of  the  city  wall,  are  found  to  the  east.  A  street  running 
through  and  out  of  the  old  Laodicea,  can  still  be  followed ; 
its  sides  marked  by  the  fragments  of  a  colonnade,  and  of 
many  pedestals  of  statues.  The  whole  neighbourhood,  in 
fact,  is  covered  with  heaps  of  stones  once  belonging  to 
massive  buildings  ;  several  temples  being  distinguishable, 
with  the  bases  of  the  marble  pillars  once  gracing  them. 
But  the  landscape,  then  crowded  with  population,  is  now 
silent ;  the  gardens  and  walks  along  the  river  front  where 
they  enjoyed  themselves  are  blotted  out ;  the  smoke  and 
the  hum  of  multitudinous  industries  have  died  away  for 
more  than  a  millennium.  In  spite  of  its  recent  destruction, 
the  rebuilt  city  was  full  of  life  and  more  splendid  than 
ever  when  the  Epistle  in  the  Apocalypse  came  to  the 
brethren,  and  the  thousand  distractions  of  prosperity, 
while  sinking  the  general  community  in  deeper  wicked- 
ness than  ever,  dimmed  even  the  fine  gold  of  local 
Christianity. 

By  whom  our  religion  had  been  brought  to  this  money- 
loving,  would-be- literary,  plutocratic  community  is  not 
known,  for  it  is  said  by  St.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the  neigh- 
bouring Colosse,  ten  miles  to  the  east,  on  the  same  great 
road,  that  he  had  not  visited  either.  In  all  probability, 
brethren  from  Ephesus  had  carried  the  Gospel  to  both ; 
the  synagogue,  as  I  have  said,  always  offering  an  easy 
means  of  beginning  local  evangelisation.  But,  like  all 
the  seven  churches,  except  the  poorest  of  them — that  of 
Philadelphia — the  fervour  with  which  the  new  faith  had 
been  received  soon  abated ;  a  cold  half-heartedness  suc- 
ceeding, which  neither  warmly  supported  the  confession 
they  had  made,  nor  quite  repudiated  it.  Hence  the 
Epistle,  while  loving  and  tender,  in  its  eagerness  that  they 


238  THE   APOCALYPSE 

should  not,  after  all,  forfeit  their  Christian  reward,  is  stern 
in  its  reproof  of  their  unhealthy  spiritual  condition,  and 
in  the  demand  for  sincere  and  immediate  repentance. 
The  solemnity  of  its  first  words  shows  the  deep  feeling  of 
Christ  respecting  this  state  of  things.  He  calls  Himself 
"  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness,"  to  impress  on 
them  the  certainty  of  all  He  may  say — the  justice  of  His 
reproof,  the  wisdom  of  His  counsel,  and  the  sure  realisa- 
tion of  both  His  threatenings  and  His  promises.^  He  had 
already  declared  Himself  "the  faithful  witness"  to  the 
truth,2  but  now  He  adds  that  He  is  "the  beginning  of 
the  creation  of  God  " — not,  assuredly,  the  first  creature 
of  God,  but  the  living  fountain  of  all  creation — its  author 
and  beginner,  as  is  taught  in  every  part  of  the  New 
Testament.  How  could  He,  indeed,  dictate  this  book  if 
He  Himself  were  a  creature  ?  How  could  every  creature 
in  heaven  and  earth  worship  Him  ?  ^  How  could  He  be 
the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  * — that  name  which  is  the  sole  right  of 
the  Almighty,^  if  He  were  only  Himself  a  creature  ? 

Epistle  to  the  Church  in  Laodicea. 

14.  And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Laodicea  write; 

These  things  saitli  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  witness, 
the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God  :  15.  I  know  thy  works, 
that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot :  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or 
hot — either  openly  against  Me  or  warmly  for  Me.  16.  So, 
because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will 
spew  thee  out  of  My  mouth;  casting  thee  from  Me  with 
loathing,  unless  thou  repentest.  17.  Because  thou  sayest,  I 
am  rich,  and  have  indeed  gotten  much  riches,  and  have  need 

1  Rev.  iii.  15-17,  18,  21.  2  j^ev.  i.  5. 

»  Rev.  V.  13.  *  Rev.  xxii.  13.  ^  Rev.  i.  5 


THE  REVELATION   OF  ST.    JOHN   THE  DIVINE  239 

of  nothing;  I  am  a  Christian,  but  wish  to  stand  well  with 
those  that  are  not ;  I  want  a  paradise  both  here  and  here- 
after ;  and  knowest  not  that,  with  all  thy  worldly  respecta- 
bility, thou  art  the  wietched  one,  above  all  other  churches,  and 
miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked,  in  soul,  before 
God :  therefore  18.  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  Me  gold  refined 
by  fire — the  tried  gold  of  sincerity,  which  I  alone  can  give 
thee,  that  thou  mayest  become  spiritually  rich ;  and  white 
garments,  the  robes  of  a  godly,  righteous,  and  sober  life,  that 
thou  mayest  clothe  thyself  with  them,  and  that  the  shame  of 
thy  spiritual  nakedness  be  not  made  manifest ;  and  eyesalve 
to  anoint  thine  eyes,  that  thou  mayest  see  thy  true  condition, 
and  what  true  religion  demands.  19.  I  speak  thus  in  love, 
for  as  many  as  I  love,  I  reprove  and  chasten,  when  they  need 
it  for  their  good :  be  zealous,  therefore,  in  reforming  thyself, 
since  I  thus  love  thee  still,  and  repent.  20.  Behold  I  stand 
at  the  door,  0  Church  of  Laodicea,  so  near  is  My  coming, 
and  even  now,  I,  as  it  were,  knock  at  your  door — the  door 
of  each  heart,  and  if  any  man  hear  My  voice,  calling  him  to 
open,  and  does  so,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with 
him,  and  he  with  Me — in  holy  fellowship  and  love.  21.  Still 
more  :  he  that  overcometh,  I  will  give  to  him  to  sit  down  with 
Me  in  My  throne  hereafter,^  as  I  also  overcame,  and  sat  down 
with  My  Father  in  His  throne.  22.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let 
him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the  churches. 

1  Rev.  xxii.  5  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  12  ;  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  Luke  xxii.  30  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  2  ; 
Rev.  ii.  26,  27. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PLAN   OF  THE   BOOK  AND   THE   FIRST  VISION 

With  the  close  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches, 
their  members,  and,  through  them,  all  the  brethren,  are 
shown  in  a  series  of  visions,  how  all  things  are  working 
towards  the  great  triumph  of  Christ,  on  which,  as  on  a 
sure  foundation,  all  their  hopes  are  built.  The  disclosure 
of  the  successive  steps  of  God's  purposes  in  securing  this, 
would  strengthen  the  faith  and  brighten  the  life  of  the 
churches,  whatever  troubles  await  them,  and  thus  help 
them  to  be  true  to  the  end.  A  brief  glance  at  the 
contents  of  the  book  as  a  whole,  will  bring  this  more  dis- 
tinctly before  us. 

The  visions  open  by  a  sublime  presentation  of  the 
majesty  and  splendour  of  God  the  Father,  in  the  upper 
heavens ;  to  impress  on  the  churches  that  the  Plan  of 
Redemption,  from  first  to  last,  is  to  be  ascribed  to  His 
infinite  love  and  sovereign  good  pleasure ;  Christ,  the 
divine  Son,  being  the  agent  through  whom  His  purposes 
of  mercy  are  carried  out.  The  eyes  of  all  the  faithful 
are,  therefore,  directed  to  the  sublime  spectacle  of  "  Him 
that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,"  hidden  amidst  its  splen- 
dour, as  he  receives  the  adoration  of  the  "  elders,'* 
who  represent  the  redeemed  of  all  ages  of  the  past ;  of 
"living  creatures,"  who  symbolise  all  animate  creation, 

240 


PLAN  OF  THE  BOOK  AND   ITS   FIEST  VISION  241 

and  of  the  innumerable  companies  of  the  celestials,  of 
all  orders.^ 

The  sealed  book  of  the  purposes  of  God  towards  man 
is  then  brought  forward,  but  no  one  can  open  it,  till  the 
Lamb,  our  Blessed  Lord,  appears,  amidst  a  universal 
recognition  that  He  alone  can  do  so,  and  disclose  its 
mysteries.  Heaven  resounds  with  the  acclamations  of  all 
its  angels,  of  the  elders,  and  of  the  symbolic  living  crea- 
tures, when  He  takes  the  book  from  the  right  hand  of 
God,  sitting  on  the  throne ;  every  creature  on  the  earth 
or  under  it,  or  in  the  sea,  joining  in  universal  adoration 
as  He  does  so.^ 

Six  seals  are  then  in  succession  opened;  revealing 
awful  judgments  about  to  be  poured  out  on  the  earth ;  ^ 
the  opening  of  the  fifth  being  attended  by  a  cry,  from  the 
souls  of  the  martyrs  under  the  altar  before  the  throne,  for 
vengeance  on  those  who  had  taken  their  lives ;  a  prayer 
to  which  the  remainder  of  the  book  is  virtually  the 
answer;  carrying  out  their  appeal  for  judgment  on  their 
murderers.  A  pause  is  now  made,  till  the  servants  of 
God  are  sealed  on  their  foreheads,  to  ensure  their  safety 
in  the  troubles  approaching,  and  to  keep  them  from 
falling  away,  under  fear  and  temptation.* 

The  seventh  seal  is  now  opened,  but  is  followed  by 
another  pause,  after  which  a  new  series  of  judgments 
is  introduced,  following  the  echoes  of  seven  trumpets 
sounded  by  seven  mighty  angels.  Six  of  the  plagues 
thus  prepared,  now  overwhelm  the  heathen  world  with 
calamities  the  most  dreadful ;  but,  in  spite  of  them,  men 
do  not  repent  of  their  sins.^ 

An  angel  prince  now  descends,  and  swears  by  the  ever- 

*  Chap.  iv.      2  Chap.  v.      *  Chap.  vi.      *  Chap.  viL      ^  Chaps.  viiL,  ix, 
IV.  Q 


242  THE   APOCALYPSE 

living  God,  that  no  more  time  should  be  granted  the 
impenitent  world.^ 

Another  angel,  attended  by  John,  next  measures  Jeru- 
salem, outside  the  Temple  ;  all  except  the  sanctuary  being 
given  over  for  three  years  and  a  half  to  the  heathen,  to 
tread  it  under  foot,  for  that  time.  During  these  years, 
witnesses  testify  in  the  city  for  God,  but  are  killed.  Yet, 
presently,  they  are  restored  to  life  and  taken  up  to 
heaven,  and  a  tenth  part  of  the  city  is  destroyed  by  an 
earthquake.  Unlike  the  heathen,  however,  those  who 
escaped  "were  affrighted,  and  gave  glory  to  the  God  of 
heaven,"  so  that  Jerusalem,  thus,  again,  becomes  the  city 
of  God,  and  is  restored  to  His  favour.^ 

At  last,  the  seventh  trumpet  sounds,  and  the  final 
judgments  open ;  heralded  by  the  adoration  of  the  elders, 
at  the  avenging  of  the  martyrs  by  the  judgments  already 
inflicted,  and  at  the  prospect  of  the  final  visitation  of 
divine  wrath  on  the  heathen. 

Meanwhile,  a  woman,  clothed  with  the  sun,  appears  in 
heaven,  on  the  eve  of  becoming  a  mother.  But  a  great 
red  dragon  also  apjDears  there,  seeking  to  devour  the 
child  which  is  born  on  earth,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  Messiah 
— Jesus.  But  He  is  caught  up  into  heaven,  away  from 
the  dragon.  Meanwhile,  the  woman,  who  is  now  a 
symbol  of  the  Church,  flees  to  the  wilderness,  and  is  fed 
there  for  three  years  and  a  half,  in  a  place  prepared  for 
her  by  God,  and  the  great  dragon,  the  devil,  is  finally 
cast  out  of  heaven ;  he  and  his  angels  being  overcome  by 
Michael  and  his  hosts.  Nor  can  he  prevail  against  the 
woman  or  the  "  remnant  of  her  seed."^ 

Another  stage  in  the  visions  follows.  A  beast — the 
^  Chap.  X.  2  Chap.  xi.  1-14.  =*  Chap.  xii. 


PLAN  OF  THE  BOOK   AND   ITS   FIRST  VISION  243 

Roman  power — comes  up  from  the  western  sea,  and  all 
the  world  wonders  after  it,  and  worships  the  dragon — 
the  devil — who  gave  it  its  power.  This  beast,  as  the 
instrument  of  Satan,  makes  war  against  the  saints. 
But  presently  a  second  beast  rises  from  the  earth — the 
representative  of  the  army  of  seducing  teachers  and 
sorcerers,  who  were  to  seek  the  destruction  of  the  Church 
by  their  evil  arts ;  and.  what  with  the  sword  and  mislead- 
ing seductions  of  this  "false  prophet,"  the  saints  are  sore 
pressed,  while  the  world  becomes  daily  more  hardened.^ 

The  wrath  of  God  is  now  loosed  against  the  Roman 
power  itself,  and,  as  a  beginning,  Jerusalem  is  delivered 
from  the  Roman  armies,  which  are  scattered  with  inde- 
scribable slaughter.^ 

At  this  progress  of  the  judgments  of  God  there  is 
renewed  adoration  in  heaven,  after  which  seven  other 
angels  receive  seven  phials  full  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
which  they  pour  out,  with  unspeakable  ruin  to  man,  and 
wreckage  of  the  world. ^ 

The  doom  of  the  great  city,  Rome,  follows,  after  having 
been  foretold,  briefly  already,  by  anticipation.*  It  is  utterly 
destroyed  by  fire  and  its  site  made  a  desolation. 

The  beast  and  the  false  prophet,  with  all  their  sup- 
porters, are  now  taken  or  destroyed  by  *'The  Word  of 
God" — the  earth  being  virtually  depopulated,  and  the 
beast  and  the  false  prophet  and  those  who  have  their  mark 
are  cast  into  a  lake  of  fire.^ 

The  devil  is  now  seized,  and  bound  in  the  abyss  for 
one  thousand  years,  during  which  the  souls  of  the  martyrs 
and  confessors,  clothed  with  their  bodies,  which  are  raised 

^  Chap.  xiii.  *  Chap.  xiv.  "  Chap  xvi. 

*  Chaps,  xvii.,  xviii.  Chap.  xix. 


244  THE  APOCALYPSE 

from  the  dead,  reign  with  Christ,  in  Jerusalem ;  the  rest 
of  the  dead  not  being  then  raised.  This  is  the  first 
resurrection. 

Satan  is  now  loosed  from  the  pit,  but  forthwith  assails 
the  city  of  the  saints.  He  is,  however,  crushed,  with  all 
the  barbarous  hosts  he  has  gathered,  and  is  finally  cast 
into  the  burning  lake  for  ever  and  ever. 

Thus  Kome  and  the  heathen  world,  with  the  emperor, 
the  false  prophet,  and  the  devil,  are  taken  out  of  the 
way  of  the  final  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
on  earth :  ^  the  whole  course  of  Providence  having  been 
directed  to  that  end. 

A  new  earth  and  a  new  heaven  are  now  created  for  the 
New  Kingdom  of  the  Messiah  ;  entrance  into  which  is  the 
grand  Christian  hope.  All  the  dead  are  raised  and  judged : 
those  who  have  been  true  to  the  faith  being  admitted  to 
the  Messianic  kingdom,  but  all  others  consigned  to  the 
burning  lake.  The  New  Jerusalem  presently  descends 
from  heaven ;  the  saints  are  gathered  in  it,  with  the 
presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb  as  its  glory,  and  the  book 
ends,  when  this  grand  culmination  has  been  reached,  with 
cries  to  the  Saviour  to  come  quickly,  that  this  reward  of 
His  faithful  servants  may  be  theirs  the  sooner. 

Thus,  from  first  to  last,  the  Apocalypse  is  only  a  vision 
of  the  steps  in  God's  purposes,  by  which  Christ  will 
triumph  over  all  His  foes,  and  reign  with  His  people,  in 
a  regenerated  world,  for  ever  and  ever;  visions  fitted 
supremely,  to  support  the  Christians  under  their  trials. 

In  the  Epistles  to  the  seven  churches  their  condition  at 
the  time  had  been  painted,  but  now,  as  I  have  said,  the 
seer  begins  to  speak  of  the  future.     As  he  ponders  what 

^  Chap.  XX. 


PLAN  OF  THE   BOOK   AND   ITS  FIRST  VISION  245 

destinies  it  may  reveal,  the  skies  seem  to  open  over  him 
in  his  lonely  island  retreat,  and  disclose  the  glories  of 
the  immediate  presence  of  God.  The  imagery  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  age ;  presenting  current  apocalyptic  con- 
ceptions of  the  immediate  Chamber  of  Presence  of  the 
Eternal,  and  of  His  state  and  majesty.  We  must  hence 
guard  against  understanding  the  details  literally,  as  if 
recording  actual  facts  and  scenes,  instead  of  the  pageantry 
of  visions  only.  We  must  remember  that  we  are  reading 
the  words  of  a  prophet,  and  that  prophets  always  write, 
more  or  less,  in  poetical  language,  bodying  forth  the 
revelations  vouchsafed  them  in  highly-wrought  imagery. 
Thus  only,  indeed,  can  the  purposes  of  God,  and  His  deal- 
ings with  angels  or  men  be  removed  from  the  abstract 
and  pictured  to  the  eye  in  allegorical  creations ;  as  poets 
in  all  ages  have  personified  mental  and  moral  and  natural 
phenomena,  and  clothed  them  with  the  attributes  and 
visible  presentments  of  lower  or  higher  life. 

In  the  Apocalypse,  moreover,  we  have  to  do  with  a  style 
of  composition  more  or  less  peculiar  to  Jewish  writers 
and  entirely  Eastern  in  its  colouring.  Springing  up  in 
Western  Asia,  from  the  model  introduced  by  Ezekiel,  it 
had  become  a  feature  in  the  literature  of  every  religious 
crisis  since  the  persecution  under  Antiochus.  The  Roman 
occupation,  through  Pompey,  and  the  abhorred  reign  of 
Herod,  had  since  been  marked  by  writings  of  this  class, 
and  it  was  inevitable  that  the  Christian  churches,  so 
largely  Jewish  in  their  membership,  and  so  universally 
moulded  into  Jewish  modes  of  thought  and  forms  of 
expression  in  their  religious  life,  should  crave  an  Apoca- 
lypse to  throw  light  on  their  gloom  under  the  agony  of 
Nero's  reign.     Even  in  later  times,  indeed,  in  the  crises 


246  THE   APOCALYPSE 

of  their  history  under  Domitian,  Hadrian,  Septimius 
Severns,  Decius,  and  the  invasion  of  the  Goths  in  A.D.  250, 
a  similar  relief  was  sought,  and  successive  "  Revelations  " 
appeared,  and  it  was  the  same  in  the  Jewish  community. 
But  while  tlie  sacred  writer  confines  himself  to  a  pictorial, 
symbolic,  materialising  of  simple  Scriptural  teaching,  he 
discards  the  Jewish  or,  rather,  rabbinical  inventions  which 
entirely  corrupt  that  simplicity,  by  transferring  to  heaven 
the  state  and  magnificence  of  Oriental  majesty,  familiar 
to  them  from  their  long  connection  with  the  Persian 
monarchy.  Thus,  while  the  rabbis  surround  the  Almighty 
with  a  celestial  council,  which  shares  in  His  decisions, 
John  represents  those  before  the  heavenly  throne  as  only 
adoring  worshippers.  Nor  does  he  hint  at  the  rabbinical 
audacity  that  all  the  events  and  things  of  earth  are  first 
rehearsed,  or  embodied  in  arcbetyes,  before  the  co-assessors 
with  God,  and  only  after  this  carried  out  or  introduced  in 
this  world. 

The  vision  opens  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of 
the  delivery  to  John  of  the  Epistles  to  the  seven  churches ; 
while  he  was  still  "in  the  Spirit ;  "  that  is,  in  such  a  trance 
or  ecstasy  as  we  read  of  in  the  visions  granted  to  St.  Paul 
or  St.  Peter,^  and  as  is  recorded  in  connection  with 
Balaam,^  Saul,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and  the  prophets  gene- 
rally,^ and  continues  in  this  state  of  mental  illumination 
during  all  the  visions  that  follow,  to  the  end  of  the  book. 

Looking  upwards,  with  eyes  thus  cognisant  of  things 
outside  the  range  of  the  senses,  John  sees  a  door  opened 
in  the  upper  heaven,  the  house  or  palace  of  the  Almighty, 

^  Acts  xxii.  17  ;  x.  10.  ^  Num.  xxiv.  4. 

'  1  Sam.  xix.  24  ;  Ezek.  ii.  2  ;  Dan.  viii.  18  ;  x.  15,  16  ;  2  Cor.  xii,  2-4  • 
Rev.  i.  10,  17. 


PLAN   OF  THE  BOOK  AND   ITS   FIRST  VISION  247 

and  forthwith  is  startled  by  hearing  the  trumpet-like 
voice  which  he  had  heard  before  —  whose  voice  we  are 
not  told — calling  on  him  to  "  Come  up,"  that  the  speaker 
may  show  him  through  this  gate  of  sight,  the  things  which 
must  come  to  pass  in  the  future  ;  the  vision  he  had  already 
seen  concerning  only  the  present.  Though  already  "in 
the  Spirit,"  a  higher  inspiration  was  needed,  to  fit  him  for 
the  transcendent  revelation  now  to  be  vouchsafed.  But 
straightway  this  came  upon  him,  and  he  felt  himself,  as 
it  were,  borne  upwards,  and  led  to  the  great  opening 
into  the  highest  heavens,  thus  mysteriously  revealed,  and 
placed  in  full  view  of  the  throne  of  God,  and  the  glorious 
company  before  it. 

The  wondrous  picture  that  follows  is  a  striking  in- 
stance of  the  Hebrew  colouring  of  John's  mind,  through 
familiarity  with  rabbinical  "  wisdom,"  but,  no  less,  of  the 
loftiness  of  his  conceptions,  far  transcending  those  of  the 
rabbis ;  as  shown  in  his  transfiguration  of  Old  Testament 
prophecy,  from  whom  both  largely  draw  the  outlines  and 
embellishments  of  their  creations.  Thus  in  one  of  the 
old  Jewish  books  of  the  highest  authority  in  its  sphere,^ 
a  vision  of  God  is  set  forth,  which  tells  us  that  "four 
companies  of  ministering  angels  praise  God,  the  ever 
blessed.  The  first  is  that  of  Michael,  on  the  right  hand  ; 
the  second,  that  of  Gabriel,  on  the  left ;  the  third,  that 
of  Uriel,  before  God  ;  the  fourth,  that  of  Eaphael,  behind 
Him.  But  the  Shechina  of  God,  ever  blessed,  is  in  the 
middle,  and  He  sits  on  an  amber  throne,  high  and  lifted 
up,  and  the  seat  of  it  is  exalted  and  hangs  in  air,  and  the 
splendour  of  its  magnificence  is  as  Chasmal,"  the  word 
used  in  the  vision  of  Ezekiel,  and  translated  amber  in 
^  Pirke  R.  Elieser,  c.  4,  quoted  by  Schoettgen. 


248  THE  APOCALYPSE 

our  version.^  "  On  His  head  is  a  crown  and  diadem,  with 
Schemhamphorasch  —  the  mystical  word  by  which  the 
rabbis  veil  the  incommunicable  name  '  Jehovah '  —  on 
the  front  of  it.  His  eyes  wander  about  through  all  the 
earth,  part  of  them  raining  fire,  and  part,  hail.  On  His 
right  is  life,  on  His  left,  is  death,  and  there  is  a  fiery 
sceptre  in  His  hand.  Before  Him  is  spread  out  a  veil, 
and  seven  angels,  who  were  created  from  the  beginning, 
minister  before  Him,  within  it.  The  footstool  of  His  feet 
is  like  fire  and  lightning,  and  under  the  throne  of  His 
glory  there  shine,  as  it  were,  sapphire  and  fire.  Eound 
the  throne  are  justice  and  judgment  and  seven  clouds  of 
glory,  and  the  wheel  of  His  chariot,  and  the  cherubim, 
and  the  living  creatures,  give  it  glory.  The  likeness  of 
the  throne  is  that  of  sapphire,  and  at  its  four  feet  are  four 
living  creatures,  of  which  each  has  four  faces  and  as  many 
wings.  When  God  speaks  from  the  east.  He  does  so 
between  two  cherubim  with  the  face  of  a  man ;  when 
He  speaks  from  the  south,  He  does  so  between  two 
cherubim  with  the  face  of  a  lion ;  when  He  speaks  from 
the  west,  He  does  so  between  two  cherubim  with  the  face 
of  an  ox ;  and  when  He  speaks  from  the  north,  He  does  so 
between  two  cherubim  with  the  face  of  an  eagle.  And 
the  living  creatures  stand  close  to  the  throne  of  glory, 
but  yet  do  not  know  its  glory.  And  they  stand  in  fear 
and  trembling,  in  horror  and  shaking,  and  from  this 
shaking  of  their  faces  a  fiery  river  goes  out  before  them. 
Of  two  seraphs,  one  stands  on  the  right  hand  of  God, 
ever  blessed ;  the  other,  on  the  left  hand,  and  each  has 
six  wings ;  with  two  of  which  they  cover  their  face,  lest 
they  should  see  the  face  of  the  Shechina,)  that  is,  of  God); 

1  Ezek.  i.  4. 


PLAN  OF  THE  BOOK   AND   ITS   FIRST  VISION  249 

with  two  they  cover  their  feet,  lest  they — (the  feet) — should 
see  the  Shechinah,  and  that  they  may  always  note  the 
traces  of  His  footsteps ;  and  with  two  they  fly ;  and  they 
fear  and  sanctify  His  great  name.  And  one  cries  and 
the  other  answers,  *  Holy,  holy,  holy,'  &c.  And  the  living 
creatures  stand  next  his  glory,  yet  they  do  not  know  the 
place  of  his  glory,  but  in  every  part  where  His  glory  is, 
they  cry  out  and  say,  '  Blessed  be  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
in  its  place.'  "  Compare  this  with  the  grand  sublimity  of 
the  vision  of  God  in  our  book,  and  we  see  the  contrast 
between  inspiration  and  merely  human  invention. 

The  Old  Testament  visions  from  which  the  materials 
of  the  vision  of  John  and  of  these  elaborate  inventions  of 
the  rabbis  are,  alike,  more  or  less,  drawn,  are  found  in 
various  parts  of  the  sacred  writings.  Thus,  Micaiah,  the 
prophet,  tells  Ahab  that  he  had  seen  Jehovah  sitting  on 
His  throne,  and  all  the  host  of  heaven  standing  by  Him, 
on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left.^  Isaiah  records  how, 
in  a  vision,  he  "  saw  Jehovah  sitting  on  a  throne,  high  and 
lifted  up,  and  the  skirts  of  His  robes  filled  the  Temple. 
Above  it  stood  the  seraphim :  each  one  had  six  wings ; 
with  twain  he  covered  his  face,  and  with  twain  he  covered 
his  feet,  and  with  twain  he  did  fly.  And  one  cried  to 
another  and  said.  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  Jehovah  of  hosts : 
the  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory.  And  the  posts  of  the 
door  moved  at  the  voice  of  him  that  cried,  and  the  house 
was  filled  with  smoke.  "^  Ezekiel  sees  a  great  fiery  cloud  ^ 
with  the  likeness  of  four  living  creatures  in  it ;  human  in 
shape,  but  each  with  four  faces  and  four  wings,  and  the 
feet  of  oxen ;  human  hands  appearing  on  their  four  sides, 
and  their  whole  form  shining  with  the  splendour  of  bur- 
^  1  Kings  xxii.  19.  ^  Isa.  vi.  2-4.  '  Ezek.  i. 


250  THE  APOCALYPSE 

nished  brass.  Each  form,  moreover,  was  like  a  man,  a 
lion,  an  ox,  and  an  eagle  on  its  four  sides.  They  were, 
moreover,  like  burning  coals  of  fire,  that  is,  of  wood,  and 
kindled  lamps,  while  lightnings  shot  out  of  the  quivering 
brightness.  Such  conceptions  were  unknown  in  Scrip- 
ture, before  Ezekiel's  day,  except  in  the  case  of  the  cheru- 
bim in  Eden  and  over  the  ark,^  the  idea  of  which  was 
doubtless  taken  from  the  mystical  creations  so  common 
in  Assyria  and  Babylon,  and  indeed,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Accad,  in  Mesopotamia,  long  before  the  rise  of  either  of 
these  states.  But  the  residence  of  Ezekiel  in  Babylonia, 
made  him  familiar  with  the  huge  emblematic  human-  and 
animal-headed  figures,  of  great  size,  guarding  the  courts 
and  halls  of  the  royal  palaces,  or  watching  at  their  gates, 
and  the  huge  water-wheels  on  the  Euphrates,  and  the 
multitude  of  war -chariots,  would  readily  suggest  the 
mighty  living  wheels  he  describes,  of  awful  height, 
moving  like  the  light,  attended  by  the  four-faced  crea- 
tures already  seen.  The  noise  of  their  wings,  we  are 
told,  when  they  moved,  was  like  that  of  great  waters,  or 
the  voice  of  El  Shaddai,  or  the  uproar  of  a  tumult,  or  the 
sound  of  an  army.  Above  their  heads,  moreover,  when 
they  stood,  was  the  likeness  of  a  firmament,  and  above  that, 
the  likeness  of  a  throne,  like  a  sapphire,  and  on  this  throne 
was  the  form  of  a  man,  from  within  whose  body,  from  the 
loins  upward, — "chasmal"  that  is,  perhaps,  amber-coloured 
fire,  seemed  to  gleam,  while  fire,  sending  out  brightness 
round  it,  formed  his  lower  parts — the  brightness,  as  in 
the  vision  of  John,  looking  like  the  "  bow  that  is  in  the 
cloud,  in  the  day  of  rain."  This,  says  the  Prophet,  was 
"  the  appearance  of  the  likeness  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord."  ^ 

^  Exod.  xxxvii.  7 ;  2  Chron.  iii.  10.  "^  Ezek.  i.  28. 


PLAN   OF  THE   BOOK  AND   ITS  FIRST  VISION  251 

In  the  visions  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  the  imagery  is 
very  different.  "The  Ancient  of  Days,"  we  are  told,  was 
seen  on  His  throne ;  "  his  garment  white  as  snow,  and 
the  hair  of  His  head  like  the  pure  wool ;  His  throne  was 
like  the  fiery  flame,  and  His  wheels — (those  of  the  throne) 
— as  burning  fire.  A  fiery  stream  issued  and  came  forth 
from  before  Him  ;  thousand  thousands  ministered  unto 
Him,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  stood  before 
Him  :  the  judgment  was  set  and  the  books  were  opened."^ 
How  far  John  made  use  of  these  Scriptural  materials  to 
set  before  us,  as  far  as  human  words  and  imagery  can  do 
so,  the  secrets  of  the  heavens  and  their  realisation  in  the 
Church  and  the  world  will  be  seen  as  we  go  on.  Mean- 
while, the  details  of  his  opening  vision  demand  our  study. 

Caught  up,  in  his  ecstasy,  to  "  the  third  heavens,"  to  use 
the  expression  of  St.  Paul,  the  seer  finds  himself  in  view 
of  the  throne  of  God,  but  with  the  dread  of  a  Jew  to 
speak  the  awful  name,  only  tells  us  that  "  One  sat  on  it." 
Nor  can  he  speak  of  Him  except  in  emblems.  A  splendour 
shone  round  Him  like  that  of  the  diamond  ^  and  the  sardius 
or  cornelian  ;  flashing  mingled  rays  of  pure  crystal  bright- 
ness and  of  ruddy  glory,  while  over  the  throne  there  bent, 
far  above,  a  rainbow,  not  of  the  tints  known  to  us,  but  like 
the  soft  green  of  an  emerald — tempering  the  awful  glory 
around,  with  the  tenderness  of  infinite,  pitying  love. 
Round  about  the  throne,  and  before  God,^  were  twenty- 
four  thrones,  on  which  sat  twenty-four  elders,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  collective  people  of  God ;  their  number 
perhaps  taken  from  that  of  the  twenty-four  courses 
of  priests  appointed  by  David.*  Or,  it  may  be,  they 
stand,  in  equal  numbers,  for  the  churches  of  the  Old  and 

^  Dan.  vii.  9,  10.         ^  Rev.  xxL  11.         =*  Rev.  xi.  16.         *  1  Chron.  xxiv. 


252  THE    APOCALYPSE 

New  Dispensations  ;  twelve  of  each  being  suggested  by  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  But,  in  any  case,  they  are  fellow- 
men,  and  represent  the  whole  Church  of  God,  of  every 
age  and  race.  These  glorified  saints  were  fitly  arrayed  in 
the  white  robes  of  purity  and  triumph  which  are  the 
raiment  of  heaven,  and  wore  crowns  of  gold — the  thrones 
and  the  crowns  showing  the  kingly  dignity  often  promised 
to  the  saints,  by  our  Lord  and  His  apostles.^  Moses  had 
assured  Israel  that,  if  they  were  faithful  to  God,  they  would 
be  made  "  a  kingdom  of  priests,"^  and  St.  Peter  calls  the 
true  disciples  of  Christ,  the  spiritual  Israel,  "  a  royal 
priesthood,"^  while,  in  the  Apocalypse,  John  tells  us  that 
they  are  made  "a  kingdom  and  priests  unto  God,"  "  to 
reign  on  the  earth  "  "  for  ever  and  ever,"  *  and  this  vision 
is  the  proof  that  these  promises  would  be  fulfilled.  In  the 
passages  already  quoted  from  Daniel,  an  innumerable  mul- 
titude of  the  blessed  were  seen  before  the  throne  of  the 
Ancient  of  Days,^  and  Isaiah  had  foretold  that  God  would 
reign  in  Mount  Zion,  and  in  Jerusalem,  before  His  elders 
or  "ancients  "  gloriously,^  so  that,  apart  from  rabbinical 
embellishments,  Scripture  had  already  given  the  germ  of 
the  conception  of  co-assessors  with  God,  in  His  glory. 

Meanwhile,  lightnings  shot  forth  from  the  throne,  with 
thundering,  and  voices :  emblems  of  the  kingly  omni- 
potence of  Him  who  sat  on  it,  round  whom  there  is  thus, 
as  in  the  prophets,  a  veil  of  thick  clouds  and  darkness, 
from  which,  as  at  Sinai,  lightnings  shot  forth,  and  rolling 
thunders — regarded,  then,  as  the  divine  voice, — and  peals 

1  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  Luke  xxii.  29,  30 ;  1  Cor.  vi.  2,  3  ;  Rev.  ii.  26  ;  xx.  4. 
2  Exod.  xix.  6.  3  1  Pet.  ii.  9. 

*  Rev.  i.  6  ;  V.  10  ;  XX.  6  ;  xxii.  5.  ^  Dan.  vii.  10. 

*"  Isa,  xxiv.  23. 


PLAN  OF  THE   BOOK  AND   ITS   FIKST  VISION  253 

as  of  trumpets,  like  those  that  filled  the  Hebrews  with 
terror,^  or  as  in  the  majestic  imagery  of  the  Psalms.^ 

But  while  it  was  thus  "  very  tempestuous  round  about 
hira,"^  a  calm  reigned  beyond,  amidst  which  John  saw  seven 
lamps,  which  are  "  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  ;  "  symbols  of 
the  attributes  of  the  divine  Spirit,  illuminating  and  laying 
bare  the  secrets  of  the  bosom,  like  the  "  eyes  of  flame  "  of 
our  Lord  Himself.  Outside  these  mysteries,  there  stretched 
a  wide  expanse,  smooth  and  shining  as  the  sleeping  ocean, 
when  the  winds  are  hushed  and  the  waters  like  a  mir- 
ror, as  John  must  often  have  seen  them  round  Patmos. 
Through  the  calm  brightness  of  this  wondrous  scene,  the 
fiery  splendours  of  the  throne  shine  back ;  the  glowing 
effulgence  mingling  in  the  sea-like  crystal,  as  when  the 
evening  sun  paves  the  ocean  waters  with  its  glory.  But 
now,  before  the  throne,  and  on  each  side  of  it,  he  discerns, 
amidst  the  clouds  and  lightnings,  four  living  creatures — 
the  representatives  of  all  animate  creation,  standing  before, 
behind,  and  on  each  side  of  the  throne — all  four  with 
their  faces  towards  the  Almighty.  These  beings,  he  can 
see,  are  full  of  eyes  behind  as  well  as  before ;  and  their 
faces,  respectively,  are  like  a  lion,  an  ox,  a  man,  and  a 
flying  eagle.  Each  has  six  wings,  so  that  they  are  evidently 
counterparts  of  the  cherubim  which  Ezekiel  had  seen  in 
his  vision.  But  while  Ezekiel's  cherubim  represent  the 
same  creatures  as  the  wondrous  forms  in  John's  vision, 
each  has  four  similar  faces,  while  in  John  each  has 
only  one  face,  and,  whereas  in  Ezekiel,  they  had  only 
four  wings  each,  in  John  they  have  six,  like  the  seraphs 
of  Isaiah.*    But,  like  Ezekiel's  wheels,  they  were  "  full  of 

'  Exod.  xix.  16.  2  pg  xcvii.  2-4 ;  xviii.  7-13  ;  xxix.  3  ff. 

'  Ps.  1.  3.  *  Ezek.  i.  6  j  Isa.  vi.  2. 


254  THE  APOCALYPSE 

eyes  round  about  and  within  " — that  is,  on  their  bodies, 
and  under  their  wings,  to  fit  them  to  bear  the  throne 
of  God  whithersoever  He  directs ;  ^  which  demands  that 
they  should  be  instinct  with  life  and  swiftest  motion,  and 
sleepless  watchfulness.  And  now  these,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  all  that  lives,  are  heard  praising  God,  the 
Creator  and  Sustainer  of  all  living  nature,  as,  indeed,  they 
do  unceasingly,  day  and  night,  for  ever  ;  this  adoration  of 
the  Eternal  Father  by  all  His  works,  rising  in  the  threefold 
ascription  heard  by  Isaiah  in  his  vision  of  the  Almighty, 
— "  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  God,  the  Almighty,  who 
was,  and  who  is,  and  who  is  to  come."  But  they  are  not 
alone  in  their  homage  to  the  Ever  Blessed,  for  at  the  sound 
of  their  anthem,  the  four-and-twenty  elders  swell  the  jubi- 
lation with  their  voices  ;  the  whole  redeemed  people  of  God 
thus,  in  emblem,  uniting  with  nature  at  large  in  extolling 
the  Parent  of  all.  "  And  when  the  living  creatures  give 
glory  and  honour  and  thanks  to  Him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  to  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  the  four  and- 
twenty  elders,"  we  are  told,  "  shall  fall  down  before  Him 
that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  shall  worship  Him  that 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  and  shall  cast  their  crowns  before 
the  throne,  saying,  Worthy  art  Thou,  our  Lord  and  our 
God,  to  receive  the  glory  and  the  honour  and  the  power  : 
for  Thou  didst  create  all  things,  and  because  of  Thy  will 
they  came  into  being  and  were  created."  ^ 

Another  stage  in  the  vision  is  now  reached.^  John  sees 
in  the  right  hand  of  the  Almighty,  as  He  sat  on  the  throne, 
a  roll — for  that  was  the  form  of  ancient  books — written, 
not,  as  usual,  only  on  the  inside  of  the  parchment,  but  also, 
as  sometimes  was  seen,  on  the  outside.    It  was  so  divided, 

^  2  Sam.  xxii.  11 ;  Ps.  xviii.  10.  -  Rev.  iv.  9-11.  3  j^ev.  v. 


PLAN  OF   THE   BOOK   AND   ITS   FIRST   VISION  255 

moreover,  into  seven  portions  rolled  together,  each  reach- 
ing beyond  the  one  next  it,  that  each  could  be  sealed  by 
itself.  There  were  thus  seven  seals  on  the  circumference 
of  the  great  roll,  precluding  the  knowledge  of  the  writing 
within,  till  they  were  opened  ;  the  seal  of  each  part,  how- 
ever, permitting  it  to  be  opened  and  read  by  itself,  begin- 
ning with  the  first.  This  mysterious  "  book  "  was  no  less 
than  the  engrossment  of  the  divine  decrees,  bearing  thus, 
hidden  within  it,  till  it  was  unsealed,  the  future  story  of 
the  world  and  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  seer  was 
now  to  be  "  shown  the  things  which  must  shortly  come  to 
pass  ;  "  and  thus  to  receive  the  disclosures  to  be  given  to 
the  churches  through  him ;  their  one  object  being  a  "  reve- 
tion  of  Jesus  Christ  "  in  the  divine  judgments  on  the 
heathen,  by  which  His  coming,  "  shortly  "  to  be  expected, 
or  even  "at  hand,"  was  to  be  heralded  :  that  coming  being 
His  "  revelation,"  or  "  revealing."  Presently,  a  mighty 
angel,  whose  voice  sounded  not  only  through  all  heaven, 
but  down  to  the  earth,  and  over  all  its  lands,  and  even 
through  the  vast  subterranean  kingdom  of  the  dead,  or 
Hades — was  heard,  as  an  august  herald,  "proclaiming 
with  a  great  voice.  Who  is  worthy,"  that  is,  able,  "to 
open  the  book,  and  to  loose  its  seals  ?  "  But  no  one  was 
found  who  could  do  so,  either  in  heaven,  on  the  earth,  or 
in  the  pale  kingdoms  of  the  dead,  underneath.  It  seemed, 
thus,  as  if  the  secret  counsels  of  God  concerning  things 
future  were,  after  all,  to  remain  hidden.  Fearing  this, 
the  seer  was  greatly  distressed,  and  wept  bitterly  to  think 
that  the  consolation  and  support  which,  he  felt  assured, 
they  would  vouchsafe  to  his  suffering  brethren,  should  be 
withheld.  But  he  was  not  left  in  his  sorrow,  for  one  of 
the  twenty-four  crowned  and  white-robed  elders,  throned 


256  THE  APOCALYPSE 

"  before  God,"  seemed  in  the  vision  to  say  to  him  :  "  Weep 
not ;  behold,  the  Lion  that  is  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the 
Root  of  David,  hath  overcome  "  all  hindrance,  by  His  death 
and  resurrection,  and  is  able  "  to  open  the  book  and  the 
seven  seals  thereof."  As  the  Saviour  of  mankind  and 
head  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  He  was  the  fitting  and 
only  possible  medium  of  all  revelation  respecting  it.  Him- 
self one  of  the  trophies  of  Christ's  victory  over  sin  and 
death,  the  elder  realised  its  whole  significance.  Jacob  in 
his  dying  blessing  had  compared  Judah  to  a  lion,^  and  the 
tribal  flag  had  borne  this  emblem  as  its  glory,  for  ages, 
and  now  Jesus,  as  the  Messiah  promised  from  of  old,  a 
Son  of  Judah  in  the  flesh,  had  shown  Himself,  in  a  trans- 
cendent sense,  the  Lion  of  His  tribe,  while  He  was,  also, 
"  the  root  of  David,"  as  the  shoot  springing  with  fresh 
victorious  power  from  his  ^'  root  "  or  lineage.^  Even  while 
on  earth,  He  had,  once  and  again,  drawn  aside  the  veil  and 
revealed  some  of  the  mysteries  of  the  future,^  and  the 
opening  of  the  sealed  book  was,  therefore,  only  one  more 
illustration  of  His  divine  foreknowledge. 

Christ,  who  had  been  so  lowly  on  earth,  and  had  suffered 
an  ignominious  and  cruel  death,  is  now  seen,  clothed  with 
all  power,  and  governing  all  things  by  His  providence. 
As  John  looks  towards  the  thrones  of  the  elders,  bending 
outwards,  in  equal  number,  on  each  side  of  the  throne  of 
God,  he  sees  in  their  midst,  that  is,  before  God,  and  in 
the  immediate  presence,  also,  of  the  four  living  ones,  a 
Lamb  standing,  with  a  wound  in  its  throat,  "  as  though  it 
had  been  slain  "  on  the  altar,  but,  strange  to  say,  with 
seven  horns — the  emblem,  in  those  ages,  of  kingly  power, 
and  with  seven  eyes,  the  emblem  of  omniscience,  or,  as 
^  Gen.  xlix.  9.  ^  Isa.  xi.  10.  ^  Matt,  xxiv. ;  Luke  xxL 


PLAN  OF  THE  BOOK  AND  ITS  FIKST  VISION  257 

John  describes  them,  of  "  the  seven  Spirits  of  God,  sent 
forth  into  all  the  earth,"  under  the  direction  of  Christ,  to 
carry  out  His  will.     Such  a  form  would  be  quite  in  keeping 
with  the  strange  phantasmagoria  we  expect  in  a  vision, 
especially  in  the  case  of  John,  whose  mind  was  familiar 
with  such  mystical  creations  in  the  old  Prophets.     But  of 
course  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  purely  figurative  :  an  em- 
blematic and  touching  remembrance  of  Christ  being  known, 
by  His  followers  on  earth,  as  "the  Lamb  of  God."     This 
mystic  Lamb  now  came  forward  and  took  the  book  out  of 
the  right  hand  of  Him  that  sat  on  the  throne ;  for  the  New 
Testament  constantly  teaches  that  Christ  receives  all  power 
from  the  Father.^     That  the  awful  roll  was  delivered  to 
Him,  thus  proclaimed  that  Christ  was  the  intermediary 
appointed  by  the  Godhead,  to  reveal  those  final  and  im- 
minent purposes  towards  the  churches  and  the  persecuting 
heathen  world,  which  it  was  the  object  of  the  Apocalypse 
to  make  known.^ 

That  the  secret  counsels  of  God  were  thus  to  be  revealed 
to  His  people,  was  the  signal,  in  the  vision,  for  an  outburst 
of  adoration  in  heaven,  to  Him  who,  alone,  in  these  celestial 
regions  or  on  earth,  was  able  to  make  them  known.  No 
sooner,  therefore,  had  the  Lamb  taken  the  book  from  the 
hand  of  the  Father,  than  John,  in  the  dream-picture  of 
his  entranced  spirit,  saw,  as  it  seemed,  all  heaven  moved 
to  loudest  jubilation.  Forthwith,  the  four  emblematic 
living  creatures,  and  the  twenty-four  elders,  of  course 
only  phantoms  of  a  vision,  but  none  the  less  the  expression 
of  eternal  verities,  having  first  cast  themselves  down  before 
the  Lamb,  in  lowliest  worship,  began  a  loud  anthem  to  His 
praise ;  the  Lamb  being  felt  worthy  to  share  in  the  divine 

1  Col.  i.  19 ;  Phil.  ii.  9 ;  Matt,  xxviii.  18.  ^  Rev.  xxi. 

17.  ® 


258  THE  APOCALYPSE 

honours  already  paid  to  Him  who  sat  on  the  throne.^  The 
elders,  besides  their  white  robes  and  golden  crowns,  had, 
now,  each,  a  harp  in  one  hand  and  in  the  other,  golden  bowls 
of  incense,  which,  in  its  clouds  of  perfumed  smoke,  was 
the  symbol  in  the  ancient  world,  both  among  Jews  and 
heathen,  of  prayer;  as  when  the  Psalmist  asks  that  his 
prayer  "  may  be  set  forth  before  God  as  incense ;  and 
the  lifting  up  of  his  hands  as  the  evening  sacrifice."  ^ 
The  incense  offered  by  the  elders,  in  accordance  with 
this,  was,  we  are  told,  the  symbol  of  the  prayers  of  the 
saints ;  brought  thus,  it  would  seem,  to  "  the  remembrance 
of  the  Holy  One,"  as  the  prayers  of  Tobit  are  said  to  have 
been  by  the  angel,^  or  as  an  angel  is  represented  by  John, 
hereafter,  as  "  standing  at  the  (heavenly)  altar,  having  a 
golden  censer,  to  whom  much  incense  was  given,  that  he 
should  add  it  to  the  prayers  of  all  the  saints,  upon  the 
golden  altar  before  the  throne.  And  the  smoke  of  the 
incense,  with  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  went  up  before 
God  out  of  the  angel's  hand."  *  Then,  while  the  clouds  of 
incense  rose  up  before  the  throne,  the  seer  heard  a  new 
song  break  forth  from  the  twenty-four  representatives  of 
the  redeemed — new,  because  it  proclaimed  the  glory  of  the 
Lamb,  for  having  obtained  the  opening  of  the  sealed  book 
of  God's  purposes,  through  the  salvation  won  by  His  blood. 
"Worthy  art  Thou,"  John  seemed  to  hear  them  cry,  "to 
take  the  book,  and  to  open  its  seals  :  for  Thou  wast  slain, 
and  didst  purchase  unto  God  with  Thy  blood,  men  of  every 
tribe,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation,  and  madest  them 
to  be  unto  our  God  a  kingdom  and  priests ;  and  they  shall 
reign  upon  the  earth."  ^    A  "  new  song  "  for  special  favours 

'  Rev.  V.  13  ;  xxii.  1.  ^  pg  cxli.  2.  ^  Tobit  xii.  12. 

4  Rev.  viii.  3,  4.  ^  Rev.  v.  9,  10. 


PLAN  OF  THE  BOOK  AND  ITS  FIRST  VISION  259 

from  God,  or  in  honour  of  some  special  display  of  His 
majesty,  was  familiar  to  the  Hebrews,  as  it  is  to  ourselves ; 
for  we  find  the  expression  often  used  in  the  Psalms  and 
elsewhere.^  Nor  was  it  without  a  mighty  consolation 
to  the  suffering  Christians  to  whom  the  Apocalypse  was 
addressed,  that  Christianity  was  promised  such  a  future. 

But  now,  as  the  new  song  ends,  a  fresh  wonder  appears, 
for  outside  the  circle  of  the  elders  and  four  living  creatures 
immediately  round  the  throne,  John,  lifting  up  his  eyes, 
sees  the  countless  hosts  of  angels,  gathered  to  celebrate, 
with  these,  the  glories  of  the  Lamb ;  their  number  being 
grandly  expressed  as  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand, 
and  thousands  of  thousands.  All  this  multitude,  which 
no  man  could  number,  now  join  in  the  anthem  of  the 
elders  and  living  creatures — the  redeemed  in  all  their 
fulness,  and  animate  nature  in  all  its  tribes, — the  whole 
choir  of  the  skies,  and  the  universal  Church,  and  the  myriad 
creatures  of  earth  thus  uniting,  "  with  a  great  voice," 
in  the  praise  of  the  Eedeemer.  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb," 
they  sang,  '•'  that  has  been  slain,  to  receive  the  power, 
and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and  honour,  and 
glory,  and  blessing."  ^ 

But  now,  when  the  angels,  the  saints,  and  all  the 
creatures,  have  magnified  the  victory  of  the  Lamb,  the 
whole  universe  thus  showing  a  common  sympathy  in 
the  salvation  of  mankind;  there  rises  a  final  Magnificat 
from  all,  to  God  and  the  Lamb  together;  Christ  being 
thus  put  on  an  equality,  in  praise  and  honour,  with  the 
Eternal  Father  ;  a  striking  illustration  of  the  acceptance 
of    our   Lord's   divinity   by   the   earliest   generations   of 

1  Rev.  xiv,  3 ;  as  in  Isa,  xlii.  10 ;  Ps.  xl.  4 ;  xcvi.  1 ;  cxliv.  9. 
9  Jlev.  V.  11,  12. 


260  THE  APOCALYPSE 

Christians.  For  now  "  every  created  thing  in  heaven,  on 
earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  on  the  seas,  and  all 
things  that  are  in  them,"  ^  seemed,  in  the  vision,  to  raise 
an  anthem  ascribing  "  unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  unto  the  Lamb,  the  blessing,  and  the  honour,  and 
the  glory,  and  the  dominion,  for  ever  and  ever."  This, 
sung  in  loftiest  strains,  rising  up  to  the  throne  from  all 
the  regions  of  creation,  and  from  the  innumerable  company 
of  angels  and  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  is  a  con- 
ception of  unmatched  sublimity  in  any  literature.  The 
vision  passes  to  another  stage  as  the  four  living  creatures 
say.  Amen — for  all  nature  ;  the  twenty-four  elders,  the 
symbol  of  "the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people,'* 
falling  down  as  they  did  so,  and  worshipping.^ 

1  Rev.  V.  13. 

^  Rev.  V.  14.  The  words  "Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever"  are 
omitted  by  the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  the  Codex  Alexandrinus,  and  the  Codex 
Vaticanus.     The  Revised  Version  also  omits  them. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE   SEALS 

We  know  how  in  a  dream  or  reverie,  a  succession  of 
events  which  appear  to  extend  over  years  are,  really,  the 
swift  succeeding  experiences  of  the  moment  between  our 
sleeping  and  awaking.  It  needs  not  surprise  us,  there- 
fore, that  scene  after  scene  follows,  without  any  intimation 
of  a  break,  in  the  trance  into  which  John  had  passed. 
Nor  needs  it  be  thought  strange,  when  we  remember  the 
disconnected  and  abnormal  conceptions,  which  seem,  in 
our  dreams,  perfectly  regular  and  fitting,  to  find  the  un- 
expected and  peculiar  imagery,  which  a  mind  filled  with 
that  of  prophets  and  rabbis,  introduces  in  the  visions  of 
the  Apocalypse.  It  is,  for  example,  not  only  in  keeping 
with  the  office  and  work  of  Christ,  that  as  a  Jew,  John 
should  see  Him  taking  the  form  of  a  Lamb,  but  it  is  no 
less  natural  that,  in  the  brain- pictures  of  a  vision,  he 
should  see  the  Lamb  taking  the  Book  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  Eternal ;  anything  whatever  seeming  as  it  should  be, 
when  the  imagination  controls  all  the  faculties,  and  creates 
through  them  such  phantasmagoria  as  people  our  dreams. 
The  difference  between  ordinary  "  visions  of  the  night " 
and  those  of  the  Apocalypse  or  other  books  of  Scripture, 
is  that,  however  extraordinary  the  symbolism  of  these 
may  be,  it  is  always  an  exact  presentment  of  great  truths, 
expressed  in  the  form  and  language  of  visionj  from  the 

261 


262  THE  APOCALYPSE 

Oriental  fondness  for  such  a  style,  but,  in  reality,  only 
describing,  as  if  seen,  in  figure  and  symbol,  the  secrets  of 
the  future  revealed  by  God  to  the  seer. 

This  mystical  way  of  writing,  which  had  been  in  vogue 
among  the  Jews  from  the  days  of  Ezekiel,  and  was  still  in 
favour  during  the  apostolic  age,  among  Jewish  religious 
writers  as  a  class — apocalyptic  books  being  very  numerous 
in  those  times, — is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  description 
by  John  of  what  followed  the  receiving  of  the  book  by  the 
Lamb.  Looking  towards  this  central  figure,  he  saw  Him 
open  one  of  the  seals,  and  forthwith  one  of  the  four  living 
creatures  called  on  John  with  a  voice  like  the  "  noise  of 
thunder,"  to  come  and  see.  Summoned  thus,  he  kept  his 
eyes  on  what  followed.  With  the  strange  incongruity  of 
visions,  four  horsemen  seemed  to  come  out  of  the  roll,  as 
one  seal  after  another  was  opened ;  the  counterparts,  one 
may  think,  of  the  horses  of  the  vision  of  Zechariah,^  but  now 
the  emblems  of  a  conquering  and  destroying  host,  which 
are  to  bring  on  the  earth  the  woes  predicted  by  Christ  Him- 
self, as  preceding  His  return.^  At  the  opening  of  the  first 
seal  there  appeared  a  white  horse,  on  which  sat  one  armed 
with  a  bow,  and  presently  honoured  by  a  crown,  to  whom  it 
was  given  to  go  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer.  To  at- 
tempt to  identify  either  this  or  the  riders  that  followed, 
seems  hopeless,  for  if  with  some,  we  think  of  the  white  horse 
— the  symbol  of  victory, — the  Eomans  using  white  horses 
in  their  triumphs,^ — as  having  for  its  rider  no  other  than 
the  victorious  Christ,  it  is  hard  to  find  an  explanation  of  His 
having  a  bow,  which  is  more  like  an  allusion  to  the  weapon 
of  the  fierce  warlike  Parthians,  beyond  the  Euphrates ;  in 
those  very  times,  a  constant  dread  to  Western  Asia,  their 
1  Zech.  vi.  2  Matt.  xxiv.  ^  Virg.  JSn.  iii.  537. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEALS  263 

invasion  of  which,  with  their  countless  cavalry  in  the  later 
days  of  the  Asmonean  kings,  was  still  remembered  with 
indescribable  terror.  Yet  it  appears  difficult  to  ascribe 
the  riding  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer,  to  any  one  but 
the  triumphant  Eedeemer.  A  red  horse  appeared  next, 
when  the  second  seal  was  opened — the  symbol  of  war,  in 
keeping  with  which  John  learned  that  power  had  been 
given  to  him  who  sat  on  it,  to  take  peace  from  the  earth, 
and  set  men  everywhere  against  each  other  ;  a  great  sword 
being  appropriately  given  to  the  rider.  The  awful  strife 
predicted  by  Christ  as  heralding  His  return — "nation  rising 
against  nation, and  kingdom  against  kingdom,"  as  in  the  last 
days  of  Nero's  reign,  and  in  the  interregnum  that  preceded 
that  of  Vespasian,  and  as  in  Judsea  before  the  final  de- 
struction of  the  Jewish  state,  vividly  rises  at  the  thought 
of  the  great  sword,  and  the  horse  of  the  colour  of  blood. 
Nor  were  the  famines  predicted  by  Christ  ^  less  strikingly 
indicated  by  the  black  horse  which  appeared  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  third  seal — black  being  the  symbol  of  all  modes 
of  evil.  In  keeping  with  the  rule  in  times  of  pressing 
scarcity,  to  weigh  out  to  each  person,,  by  a  magistrate, 
or  the  head  of  a  "gens," — the  clients  of  a  patrician, — 
the  dole  on  which  the  common  people  of  Rome  lived, 
— the  rider  bore  in  his  hand  a  pair  of  balances,  to  weigh 
out  wheat  and  barley  to  the  hungry  multitude.  But  the 
denarius,  or  "^enny,"  the  ordinary  day's  wage  of  a 
labourer ,2  which,  in  good  times,  would  buy  eight  quarts  of 
wheat,  would  now  buy  only  one — the  daily  allowance  for 
a  single  person — while  the  cheaper,  disliked  barley,  given 
even  to  soldiers  as  a  punishment — was  sold  at  only  three 
quarts  for  the  same  money.     What  could  they  do,  who, 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  2  Matt.  xx.  2. 


264  THE  APOCALYPSE 

with  a  family  to  support,  earned  only  a  penny  a  day? 
But  the  fell  rider  was  required  to  spare  the  wine  and  the 
oil;  each  of  vital  importance  even  to  the  poorest  in 
Southern  and  Eastern  lands ;  a  tempering  of  judgment, 
that  man  should  not  utterly  perish. 

The  opening  of  the  fourth  seal  ^  is  a  wonderful  example 
of  how 

"  Imagination  bodies  forth 
The  form  of  things  unknown  ;  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

"When  the  Lamb  opens  this  portion  of  the  roll,  the 
thunder-like  voice  of  the  fourth  living  creature  calls  on 
John,  once  more,  to  "  Come : "  each  of  the  four  mystic 
beings  near  the  throne  having,  in  succession,  thus  sum- 
moned his  attention,  as  one  seal  after  another  was  broken. 
Forthwith,  in  the  vision,  a  human  form  seems  to  ride  forth, 
seated  on  a  horse  of  a  corpse-like  paleness,  well  befitting 
the  awful  form  that  bestrode  it ;  his  look  instantly  pro- 
claiming that  he  was  no  other  than  Death,  itself.  Behind 
this  Terror  followed  Hades,  the  personified  world  of  the 
dead,  to  gather  into  his  dark  realms  the  harvest  of 
mortality  falling  before  the  shadowy  chief,  to  whom  he 
owes  all  their  innumerable  population.  The  prophet 
learns,  as  he  gazes,  that  this  dread  phantom  has  had 
authority  given  him  over  the  fourth  part  of  the  earth, 
that  is,  of  its  people,  to  destroy  them  with  sword,  and 
with  famine,  and  with  pestilence :  the  desolation  by  such 
slaughter  leaving  the  wild  beasts  to  multiply  so  greatly, 
that  they  also  become  the  instruments  of  a  wide  destruc- 

^  Rev.  vi.  7. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEALS  265 

tion.  !N"othing  is  said  of  Christians  escaping  this  visita- 
tion, for  they  were  to  suffer,  among  others  ;  their  enemies 
hunting  them  down  as  the  authors  of  calamities  so  over- 
whelming. "  Wars,  rumours  of  wars,  famines,  pestilences, 
and  such  tribulation  as  had  not  been  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world,  or  ever  should  be,"  ^  had  been  foretold  by- 
Jesus  Himself  as  preceding  His  advent,  and  John  now 
only  repeats  His  ominous  words,  which  were  even  then 
being  so  terribly  fulfilled,  and  were  almost  immediately 
to  be  still  more  so,  in  the  horrors  of  the  fall  of  the  Jewish 
state.  Josephus  tells  us  how  war,  famine,  and  pestilence 
desolated  Palestine  in  these  years.^  Bad  harvests  had 
prevailed  for  almost  a  generation,  in  one  part  or  other. 
Between  the  years  44  and  48  famine  had  stricken  Judsea 
sorely.^  Under  Claudius,  similar  scarcity  had  visited 
other  parts  of  the  empire ;  *  and  an  awful  famine,  suc- 
ceeded by  a  great  mortality,  from  the  pestilence  induced 
by  hunger  and  misery,  had  filled  the  whole  empire  with 
mourning,  in  the  year  65,  during  Nero's  reign. ^  The 
churches  knew  that  they  would  be  "  hated  of  all  the 
nations"  for  bearing  the  name  of  Christians,  and  that 
unless  these  evil  days  had  been  mercifully  shortened  by 
divine  decree,  "  no  flesh  would  be  saved,"  ^  and  must 
have  read  this  renewal  of  these  awful  intimations  with 
trembling  terror.  But  the  tenor  of  the  Apocalypse 
would  sustain  them,  by  its  confident  assurance  that 
Christ  would  presently  descend  from  heaven,  and  calm 
this  tempestuous  state  of  things,  bringing  them  as  He  of 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  7,  21.  ^  jog,  j^^^  y,  9, 

»  Acts  X.  28  ;  Jos.  Ant   xx.  2,  5  ;  Euseb.  "Church  Hist."  i\.  11,  33. 

*  Suet.  Claudius,  18  ;  Tac.  Annal.  12,  43. 

5  Tac.  Annal.  16,  13  ;  Suet.  Nero,  39,  45. 

"  Matt.  xxiv.  9,  22  ;  Mark  xiii.  9-13 ;  Luke  xxi.  U. 


266  THE   ArOCALYPSE 

old  had  brought  His  apostles,  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  to 
their  desired  rest,  amidst  a  great  calm. 

The  opening  of  the  fifth  seal  was  marked  by  a  new 
wonder.  The  appearance  as  of  a  great  golden  altar  of 
burnt-offering,  like  that  which  stood  before  the  Holy  Place 
in  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  rose  before  the  seer,  in  front 
of  the  throne  of  God.  The  priests  at  Jerusalem  poured 
out,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  the  blood  of  the  victims, 
which,  thus,  ran  below  it,  down  conduits,  to  the  valley  of 
Hinnom.  As  the  counterpart  of  this,  John  now  sees, 
under  this  shadowy  heavenly  altar,  the  spirits  of  the 
martyrs  "  who  had  been  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
for  the  witness  they  held  "  to  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  if 
they  had  given  up  their  lives  upon  it  as  a  sacrifice  to  the 
truth, — for  martyrdom  was  always  regarded  as  a  sacrifice 
to  God.^  Jewish  theology,  moreover,  had  long  conceived 
the  souls  of  the  righteous  as  waiting  in  their  "  chambers," 
asking,  "How  long  are  we  here?  When  cometh  the  fruit 
of  the  threshing  time  of  our  reward  ?  "  ^ — their  chambers, 
however,  being  those  of  the  grave.^  The  Talmud,  more- 
over, represents  these  souls  as  kept  safe,  under  the  throne 
of  the  divine  glory,*  from  beneath  which  they  ask  when  the 
time  of  their  reward  will  come,  as,  in  Luke's  Gospel,  Christ 
Himself  asks,  "  Shall  not  God  avenge  His  elect,  who  cry 
to  Him  dav  and  night  ?  "  ^  Hereafter,  John  was  to  see 
the  prayers  of  all  saints  offered,  with  incense,  on  the 
heavenly  altar,  as  a  sweet-smelling  savour  to  God.^  Any 
nearness,  after  death,  to  the  earthly  altar,  had  long  been 
regarded  by  the  Jews  as  a  special  honour  and  blessing; 
their  feeling  being,  that  any  one  buried  in  the  land  of 

1  Phil.  ii.  17  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  6.       ^  4  Esdras  iv.  35.  =*  4  Esdras  iv.  41. 

*  Sabbat.  152.  -  Luke  xviii.  7.  ^  Rev.  viii.  3. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEALS  267 

Israel  wafi  almost  as  if  buried  under  the  altar,  and  that 
he  who  is  buried  under  the  altar,  is  almost  as  if  buried 
under  the  throne  of  God.^  The  blood  of  Abel  had  cried 
to  God  from  the  ground,^  and  the  same  idea  is  implied  in 
our  Lord's  words  respecting  the  elect  crying  to  God  to 
"  avenge  them "  on  their  adversaries.  John  thus  simply 
repeats  the  ideas  then  held  by  every  Jew,  as  in  accordance 
with  the  mind  of  God,  when  he  tells  us  that  the  souls  of 
the  martyrs  cry  with  a  great  voice,  "  How  long,  0  Master 
(whose  we  are,  the  holy  and  true),  dost  Thou  not  judge 
and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ?  "  ^ 
That  there  should  have  been  any  even  then,  as  this 
implies,  who  had  died  as  Christians,  speaks  of  sufferings 
not  otherwise  recorded.  The  great  tribulation  of  the 
year  64,  at  Eome,  after  the  burning  of  the  city,  had 
evidently  been  followed  by  outbursts  of  hatred  and 
violence  against  the  Christians  in  all  parts,  though  we  do 
not  know  the  details  of  their  sufferings,  except  in  the 
imperial  city.  In  Asia  Minor,  where  the  worship  of  the 
reigning  emperor  had  virtually  superseded  that  of  all 
other  divinities,  it  would  be  enough  that  the  Csesar  had 
raged  against  Christians  on  the  Tiber,  to  make  the  autho- 
rities equally  bloodthirsty  in  the  region  of  the  seven 
churches,  where  John,  himself,  tells  us,  he  had  been  "  their 
companion  in  tribulation." 

But  the  cry  of  the  souls  of  the  martyrs,  from  beneath 
the  altar,  was  not  lost,  for  a  white  robe  was  forthw^ith 
given  to  each  of  them,  as  an  assurance  of  their  speedily 
seeing  their  enemies  fall,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  set 
up  on  earth.  It  was,  however,  said  to  them,  we  know  not 
by  what  speaker,  that  they  would  have  to  rest  patient  for 

^  P.  Aboth.  xrvi  ^  Gen.  iv.  10.  *  Rev.  vi.  10. 


268  THE   APOCALYPSE 

a  little  time,  till  the  number  of  those  servants  of  God, 
and  brethren  in  Christ,  yet  to  die  for  their  faith,  was 
completed.  Then  would  come  their  final  triumph,  in  the 
descent  of  Christ,  to  consume  the  adversary,  and  to  be 
glorified  in  His  jubilant  and  exalted  saints. 

The  five  seals  had  revealed  a  succession  of  judgments 
leading  on  to  the  Coming  of  Christ;  the  hope  of  the 
faithful.  With  the  opening  of  the  sixth,  the  last  stage 
before  "the  day  of  the  Lord,"  to  which  the  Christians 
so  eagerly  looked  forward,  has  actually  arrived.  The 
wonders  accompanying  this  scene  in  the  vision  are  a 
close  repetition  of  the  predictions  of  our  Lord  in  the 
Gospels ;  ^  showing  that  the  contents  of  these  were  uni- 
versally known  among  the  churches,  even  before  they 
were  committed  to  writing.  Indeed,  the  advantage  of 
their  being  written  down  would  scarcely  be  felt,  as  Christ 
was  expected  to  return  while  the  generation  that  had 
seen  Him  were  still  alive,  and  while  the  apostles  and 
first  disciples  were  continually  repeating,  in  all  parts 
to  which  they  travelled,  the  whole  story  of  the  life  and 
sayings  of  their  Master.  Many  local  Gospels,  however, 
would  undoubtedly  be  taken  down  by  zealous  souls,  fur- 
nishing, more  or  less,  the  materials  of  those  we  now  have, 
and  from  these  as  well  as  from  oral  information,  John 
was  able  to  reproduce,  as  he  does,  what  Jesus  had  taught 
of  the  signs  preceding  His  coming  back  to  earth. 

The  phenomena  of  nature,  in  ages  before  science,  as 
they  still  are  in  many  countries  not  yet  advanced  beyond 
the  condition  of  intellectual  childhood,  were  universally 
regarded  as  due  to  the  direct  action  of  invisible  ghostly 
or  divine  powers,  who  indicated  by  them  their  nearer  or 

^  Luke  xxi.  25,  26  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  29. 


THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SEALS  269 

more  remote  purposes,  towards  the  individual,  the  com- 
munity, or  the  state.  Among  the  Hebrews,  this  theology 
of  omens  and  portents  had  been  reduced  to  a  science, 
long  before  Christ;  even  their  forefathers  having  been 
familiar  with  it  millenniums  earlier ;  for  the  priests  of 
Mesopotamia,  from  which  they  came,  have  left  us,  in  the 
clay  tablets  of  their  sacred  libraries,  many  treatises  on 
the  significance  of  whatever  happens  in  nature.  We 
need  not  then  wonder  to  find  in  the  Talmud  ^  the  same 
imagery  as  John  now  introduces,^  with  the  meaning  of 
the  various  omens  thus  recounted.  "If  the  face  of  the 
sun,"  we  are  told,  "  is  like  blood,  the  sword  is  coming  on 
the  world ;  if  it  be  like  sackcloth,  the  arrows  of  famine 
are  coming ;  if  like  both,  then  both  war  and  famine  are 
coming."  In  keeping  with  this,  Josephus,  learned  as  he 
was,  attached  the  deepest  significance  to  "  signs  "  in  the 
heavens ;  drawing  the  darkest  conclusions  from  the  fact, 
as  alleged,  of  "a  star,"  like  a  sword,  which  stood  over 
Jerusalem  just  before  the  war,  and  from  a  comet  which 
was  visible  for  a  whole  year.^  Our  Lord  Himself,  indeed, 
tells  the  disciples  that  before  His  coming  there  will  be 
earthquakes,*  and  signs  in  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and 
the  vision  of  John,  now  brings  the  realisation  of  these  pro- 
phetic wonders  before  him.  He  sees^  the  earth  shaken 
by  a  great  earthquake ;  the  sun  become  black  as  sack- 
cloth,— the  sign  of  mourning  among  the  Jews ;  the  whole 
moon  become  as«  blood,  the  sign  of  impending  wars; 
and  the  stars  falling  to  the  earth,  that  is,  a  shower  of 
"  falling  stars,"  numerous  as  the  fall  of  unripe  figs  from 
their  parent  tree,  when  it  is  shaken  by  a  great  wind.^ 

1  Sacca,  f.  29,  1.  ^  Rgy,  yi.  12,  13.         '  Jos.  Edi.  Jud.  vi.  5,  3. 

4  Luke  xxi.  11,  25.      ^  r^v.  vi.  12-17.         «  Rev.  vi.  12,  13. 


270  THE  APOCALYPSE 

But  even  this  is  not  sufficient  to  indicate  the  awful 
grandeur  of  the  event  at  hand.  The  very  heaven  itself, — 
the  firmament  in  which  the  now  vanished  stars  had  been 
fixed, — disappears,  as  the  writing  of  a  "  book  "  is  hidden 
when  it  is  rolled  up,  and  along  with  this  obliteration  of 
the  skies,  every  mountain  and  island  of  the  earth  is 
moved  out  of  its  place,  by  appalling  physical  con- 
vulsions. There  is,  in  fact,  a  final  and  total  overthrow 
of  existing  nature;  the  last  judgment  has  come,  and  is 
about  to  open !  And  now  the  long-suffering  Christians 
are  indeed  "  avenged  "  on  their  persecutors,  for  "  the  kings 
of  the  earth,"  in  common  with  the  meanest  of  their  sub- 
jects, are  overwhelmed  with  fear,  and,  with  the  princes, 
the  high  officers  of  nations,  and  the  silken  population  of 
courts,  and  the  commanders  of  armies,  and  the  rich  men 
of  the  earth,  and  the  mighty  men  of  valour,  and  the 
hitherto  proud  freeman,  and  even  every  poor  slave,  in 
wild  despair,  bury  themselves  in  the  caves  and  rocks,  and 
cry  to  the  mountains  and  quivering  hills  to  fall  on  them 
and  hide  them  from  the  face  of  Him  that  sits  on  the 
throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb :  for  the  great 
day  of  their  wrath  had  come,  and  who  was  able  to  stand ! 
If  they  could  only  die,  and  thus  escape  that  wrath,  how 
blessed !  ^ 

^  The  degree  to  which  the  Jewish  mind  in  the  apostolic  age  was  satu- 
rated by  the  phraseology  of  the  Old  Testament  is  strikingly  shown  in  this 
part  of  John's  vision,  as  may  be  seen  by  reference,  among  other  texts,  to 
Joel  iii.  14,  15  ;  ii.  2,  30,  31 ;  Isa.  Ixiii.  4 ;  Nah.  i.  5,  6  ;  Mai.  iii.  2 ;  Isa. 
xxxiv.  4  ;  Jer.  iv.  24,  28  ;  Isa.  ii.  19  ;  Hoseax.  8  ;  Isa.  xiii.  6,  10  ;  Zeph.  i. 
14,  15;  Ps.  Ixxvi.  7,  8. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   GREAT   MULTITUDE 

The  inexhaustible  possibilities  of  imagination  in  visions, 
like  those  in  ordinary  dreams,  had  shown  John  the  com- 
pany of  the  redeemed  standing  on  the  wide  expanse  of 
a  glass-like  sea,  kindled,  as  it  were,  into  fire,  by  the 
splendours  of  the  throne  of  God — a  sea  which,  it  would 
seem,  was  only  a  broadening  out  of  the  river  of  the 
water  of  life  which  he  afterwards  saw,  flowing  forth  from 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.^  A  new  scene  now 
rises  before  him.  The  further  development  of  the  last 
judgment  is  delayed  for  a  time,  till  the  interests  of  the 
followers  of  Christ  have  been  safeguarded.  John  had 
hitherto  only  put  into  visible  pictures  the  predictions  of 
our  Lord  Himself,  using  almost  His  actual  language,^  but 
he  now  sees  the  further  words  of  Christ,  respecting  His 
own  disciples,  in  this  awful  time,  translated  into  a  grand 
spectacle,  as  if  carried  out  before  his  eyes.  Yet  we  must 
not  forget  that  the  whole  is  only  the  creation  of  his 
wondrous  imagination,  embodying  in  outward  form,  as  if 
a  reality  to  outward  sense,  what  Christ  had  left  to  the 
imagination  of  those  who  heard  Him.  He  was  to  send 
forth  His  angels,  He  had  said,  with  a  great  sound  of  a 
trumpet,  and  they  would  gather  together  His  elect  from 

^  Rev.  xxii.  1. 

2  Matt.  xxiv.  29,  30  ;  Mark  xiiL  24,  25  ;  Luke  xxi.  25,  26. 

271 


272  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other,* 
and  this  John  sees  done ;  the  angels  having  already 
gathered  the  redeemed  before  the  throne,  when  his 
sublime  vision  opens. 

The  Hebrews,  like  other  nations  of  antiquity,  fancied 
that  the  winds  were  stored  up  in  caves,  under  the  charge 
of  special  guardians,  who  let  them  free  according  to  the 
will  of  the  supreme  powers.  Ulysses,  for  example,  in 
the  Odyssey,  was  favoured  by  Eolus  giving  him  the  winds 
needed  to  waft  him  safely  to  rocky  Ithaca : 

"  From  a  nine-year  ox 
He  flayed  the  skin,  and  gave  a  bag  wherein 
The  courses  of  the  blust'ring  winds  he  bound  ; 
For  Jove  had  made  him  steward  of  the  winds, 
Or  to  appease  or  rouse,  whiche'er  he  willed. 
He  bound  it  down  within  the  hollow  ship 
With  silver  cord,  that  not  a  breath  could  'scape."  ^ 

Much  on  a  par  with  this  is  the  science  of  the  book  of 
Enoch,  which  embodies  the  ideas  of  the  apostolic  age 
respecting  atmospheric  phenomena.  It  tells  us  of  the 
"  store-houses  "  of  the  winds,  and  that  "  the  four  winds  " 
bear  up  the  earth,  and  the  firmament  of  heaven,  and  that 
they  come  out  through  "  doors  "  in  the  sky  ;  as  indeed,  do 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars ;  angels  presiding  over  all.^  In 
harmony  with  the  belief  of  his  times,  therefore,  John  sees, 
as  it  were,  four  angels,  standing  at  the  four  corners,  or 
cardinal  points,  of  the  earth.  The  only  winds  noted  by 
the  Hebrews,  were  under  the  control  of  these  heavenly 
beings,*  who,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  must  have 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  31  ;  Mark  xiii.  28. 
^  Odyssey,  Barnard's  Translation,  x.  18-24. 

^  See  a  full  illustration  of  this  most  interesting  book,  in  volume  first  of 
my  "  Hours  with  the  Bible,"  Old  Testament  Series,  55-59. 
*  Jer.  xlix.  36  ;  Dan.  vii.  2. 


THE  GREAT  MULTITUDE  273 

held  them  back  by  keeping  the  doors  of  the  firmament 
closed,  through  which  they  ordinarily  issued. 

Another  angel  now  appeared,  ascending  from  the  east, 
the  fitting  direction  from  which  one  should  come,  who  was 
to  announce  so  great  a  favour  as  he  brought  from  above. 
As  he  approached,  it  was  seen  that  he  had  been  entrusted 
with  the  seal  of  the  living  God,  the  characters  inscribed 
on  which  are  not  told  us,  though  they  may  have  been  the 
divine  name.  Lifting  up  his  great  voice,  which  rolled 
over  sea  and  land,  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  so 
that  the  four  angels  stationed  there  heard  his  words,  he 
commanded  them  to  hurt  neither  the  earth,  nor  the  sea, 
nor  the  trees,  by  any  hurricane,  till  "  we  shall  have  sealed 
the  servants  of  our  God  on  their  foreheads."  They  were 
thus  to  be  marked  as  being  God's  servants,  which  would 
vouchsafe  them  at  once  His  protecting  care  in  the 
plagues  about  to  be  sent  on  the  earth,  and  also  their  being 
kept  amidst  these,  from  falling  away  from  their  faith  and 
hope.  As  the  living  God,  He  whose  they  are  will  preserve 
them  from  failing  in  "the  hour  of  trial,  which  was  to 
come  on  the  whole  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  on  the 
earth."  ^  Their  "life,"  as  saints,  is  to  be  secured  by  His  seal, 
since  it  is  that  of  the  living  and  life-giving  God,  and  its 
stamp  was  to  be  put  on  their  foreheads,  as  the  honoured 
sign  of  their  being  His  worshippers.  In  antiquity,  slaves 
and  soldiers  were  marked,  to  show  whose  servants  they 
were,  and  that  they  were  under  his  protection,  and  even 
to-day,  one  still  sees,  among  the  Hindoos,  nearly  a  hundred 
different  marks  on  the  forehead  of  the  worshippers  of 
different  gods ;  each  divinity  having  his  own  mark,  which 
his  worshipper  renews  day  by  day,  as  his  greatest  pride. 

1  Rev.  iii.  10. 
IV.  S 


274  THE   APOCALYPSE 

Eastern  nations,  indeed,  in  all  ages,  have  honoured  this 
custom,  and  thus  John  would  have  it  readily  suggested  to 
him,  and  naturally  associate  it  with  the  redeemed  in  his 
vision.  We  shall  afterwards,  indeed,  find  it  used  of  the 
worshippers  of  "  the  beast "  also,  who  were  sealed  with 
his  mark  on  the  hand  or  the  forehead.^ 

It  was  of  course  impossible,  even  in  the  baseless  fabric 
of  a  vision,  to  bring  before  the  eye  the  whole  innumerable 
multitude  of  the  redeemed.  But,  as  was  fitting,  both 
branches  of  the  Church  were  duly  represented ;  the 
"remnant"  of  Israel  who  had  accepted  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah,  and  the  converts  from  all  the  nations  of  the 
Gentile  world.  A  large  number  of  Jews  had  become 
Christians,  but  so  small  a  nation  could,  at  best,  yield 
only  a  limited  spiritual  harvest,  compared  with  that  of 
all  the  other  races  of  men,  hitherto  serving  idols.  Now, 
therefore,  on  the  wide  landscape,  reaching  away  from  the 
throne  of  God  to  the  far-off  heavenly  horizon,  the  vision 
showed  a  mighty  array  of  144,000  Hebrew  Christians,  in 
equal  numbers  from  each  of  the  long-lost  tribal  divisions 
of  Israel.  Not  that  such  a  tribute  to  the  Cross  was  then 
possible  from  each  of  those  tribes  distinctively,  for  even 
in  the  time  of  E.  Akiba,  who  flourished  about  a  hundred 
years  after  the  Crucifixion,  the  ten  tribes  had  not  only 
never  returned,  as  such,  from  their  Assyrian  exile,  but  it 
was  believed  they  never  would ;  ^  and  even  in  the  time 
of  Nehemiah,  nearly  500  years  before  Christ's  death,  only 
the  members  of  the  tribes  of  Benjamin,  Judah,  and  Levi, 
could  be  mentioned  separately ;  ^  all  other  Jews  being 
named  together,   as   "  the   remnant   of    Israel."     Some 

*  Rev.  xiii.  16  ;  xiv.  9  ;  xix.  20 ;  xx.  4. 
2  Schurer,  iL  496.  »  Neh.  xi.  4,  15,  20;  13. 


THE   GREAT   MULTITUDE  275 

members  of  one  or  other  of  the  ten  tribes,  whose  ancestors, 
we  may  suppose,  had  escaped  deportation,  still,  no  doubt, 
knew  their  pedigree,  as  we  find  in  the  case  of  Anna  of 
Jerusalem,  who  is  said  to  have  been  of  the  tribe  of 
Asher;  but  they  were  so  few,  and  from  so  few  of  the 
tribes,  that  even  the  rabbis  admitted  the  impossibility  of 
rightfully  claiming  membership  of  any  particular  tribe.^ 
The  enumeration  of  the  whole  twelve  tribes  in  this 
vision,  as  still  constituting  tribes  in  the  apostolic  age, 
must  be  regarded,  therefore,  like  the  same  form  when 
used  by  St.  James  in  his  Epistle,  as  the  fond  retention 
of  an  endearing  fancy,  long  after  it  had  ceased  to  have 
any  historical  reality.  Hence,  though  Israel  is  not  known 
as  "  the  twelve  tribes  "  in  the  Apocrypha,  the  phrase  occurs 
in  the  second  century  before  Christ,  in  Esdras,^  and  our 
Lord,  doubtless  in  honour  of  this  tender  memory,  chose 
twelve  apostles,  while  St.  Paul  gratifies  the  popular 
feeling  by  speaking,  in  his  defence  before  King  Agrippa, 
of  "our  twelve  tribes"  earnestly  hoping  to  realise  the 
promise  of  the  Messiah,  made  to  their  fathers.^  In  John's 
list,  however,  we  find  the  tribe  of  Dan  omitted,  as  it  had 
for  ages  ceased  to  exist  separately,  even  in  the  estimate 
of  the  Jew.  The  aversion  of  a  man  of  Judah  to  the 
name  of  Ephraim,  is,  moreover,  curiously  shown,  by  his 
substituting  for  it  the  acceptable,  and  even  more  famous 
name  of  "  the  tribe  of  Joseph." 

But  while  the  vision  discloses  the  great  number  of 
Jewish  converts  even  then  won  to  Christ,  in  spite  of  the 
opposition  of  the  nation  as  .  whole,  the  immensely  greater 
number  of  heathen-born  among  the  Christians  of  the  day 
was  seen,  after  the  sealing  of  the  144,000,  by  the  appear- 

'    Luke  ii.  36.  -  Esdras  vii.  S.  '  Acts  xxvi.  7. 


276  THE  APOCALYPSE 

ance  of  "  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number, 
out  of  every  nation,  and  of  all  tribes,  and  peoples,  and 
tongues,  standing  before  the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb," 
who  still  remained  where  He  had  stood  while  opening  the 
sealed  book.  As  tokens  of  their  glorious  felicity,  this 
innumerable  host  were  robed  in  white,  and  bore  palm 
branches  in  their  hands ;  symbols,  not  only  of  their  eternal 
joy,  but  of  their  having  come  out  victorious  from  the 
temptations  and  trials  of  earth ;  of  their  having  triumphed 
over  death,  the  last  enemy ;  and  of  their  being,  thenceforth, 
for  ever,  before  God,  as  His  own  redeemed.  One  thinks 
of  the  victors  in  the  great  games  of  those  ages,  as  described 
by  Pausanias.^  "  All  the  great  multitude  had  on  crowns 
of  palm,  but  in  the  right  hand  of  the  victor,  there  was  also 
put  a  palm  branch."  So  it  was  with  the  Saviour,  on  His 
entry  to  Jerusalem,  when  the  multitude,  to  testify  their 
joy,  took  branches  of  palm  trees,  and  went  forth  to  meet 
Him,2  and  so  was  it  with  the  Jews  in  the  old  Maccab^an 
time,  under  Simon,  when,  having  taken  the  tower  at 
Jerusalem,  they  '*  entered  it  with  thanksgiving,  and 
branches  of  palm  trees,"  then  abundant  on  these  hills,  but 
now  all  but  vanished,  "  and  with  harps,  and  cymbals  and 
viols."  ^  With  like  outburst  of  victorious  and  grateful  joy, 
the  mighty  host  of  the  redeemed  now  seemed  to  John,  in 
his  vision,  to  break  forth  by  one  consent,  from  all  their 
myriads  of  myriads,  in  a  chant  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
crying  '  with  a  great  voice,  Salvation  unto  our  God  who 
sits  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  ; "  glorifying  the 
Eternal  Father  as  the  divine  First  Source  of  their  felicity, 
and  the  Lamb  as  the  Mediator  through  whom  His  high 
counsels  of  mercy  had  been  so  carried  out,  that  they  beheld 

^  Pausan.  Arcad.  48.  ^  John  xii.  13.  ^  1  Mace.  xiii.  51. 


THE   GREAT  MULTITUDE  277 

the  face  of  God  in  everlasting  peace  and  joy.^  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  there  is  no  slightest  hint  of  the  redeemed 
from  among  the  Gentiles  having  had  to  submit  to  any 
Jewish  requirements,  the  demand  for  compliance  with 
which  had  so  rent  and  perplexed  the  churches  planted  by 
Paul  and  his  helpers.  Nor  is  there  any  mention  of  Moses 
and  the  Law,  but  only  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  so  that  John 
had  fully  recognised  the  need  of  a  wide  Christian  liberality, 
like  that  of  Paul,  in  a  religion  designed  to  be  universal. 

But  now  the  "  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands  "  of  angels  ^  who  encompassed  the 
throne  and  its  inner  circle  of  elders,  and  of  the  four 
living  creatures, — filled  with  a  tender  sympathy  for  man, 
and  with  a  lofty  adoration  of  the  Author  and  Mediator 
of  that  salvation  which  had  added  to  the  population  of 
these  happy  regions,  the  untold  millions  of  redeemed, 
whose  chant  to  God  and  the  Lamb  had  just  ended, — feeling 
constrained,  with  one  accord,  to  show  their  love  for  their 
younger  brethren  of  earth,  bearing  the  seal  of  God  im- 
pressed even  now  on  their  foreheads,  and  the  fulness  of 
their  welcome  to  them,  fell  before  the  throne  on  their 
faces,  in  lowliest  homage,  and  worshipped  their  common 
God,  saying,  "  Amen ;  Blessing,  and  glory,  and  wisdom, 
and  thanksgiving,  and  honour  and  power,  and  might,  be 
unto  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen.^ 

Such  a  succession  of  revelations  for  the  moment  over- 
powered the  faculties  of  the  seer,  and  he  stood  silent. 
But  presently — 

13.  One  of  the  elders,  who  as  a  representative  of  the 
whole  multitude  of  the  redeemed,  might  well  do  so,  turned  to 

1  Rev.  vii.  10.  ^  Rev.  v.  11.  ^  jj^y^  yji  12. 


278  THE   APOCALYPSE 

him,  asking  if  he  knew  who  they  were  whom  he  saw  in  white 
robes,  just  sealed,  in  whom  the  angels  had  shown  so  touching 
an  interest?  14.  John,  however,  cannot  say,  and  leaves  the 
answer  to  the  elder,  in  the  reply,  "  My  lord,  thou  knowest." 
"  These,"  says  the  crowned  form,  are  they  who  come  safely, 
without  falling,  out  of  the  great  tribulation,  wliicli  is  to 
visit  the  earth  and  try  the  faith  of  the  saints,  and  this 
they  have  been  enabled  to  do,  because,  while  they  lived, 
they  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  pure  and  white 
in  the  atoning  and  redeeming  blood  of  the  Lamb.  15. 
Through  this  they  are  now,  in  your  vision,  before  the  throne 
of  God,  as  they  will  be  in  reality,  when  they  have  ended 
their  trial  on  earth,  and  they  will  then  serve  Him  as,  even 
on  earth.  His  priestly  and  kingly  people,^  day  and  night  in 
His  temple  :  and  He  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  will  fulfil,  in 
glorious  completeness,  the  promise  He  has  often  given  to 
His  true  servants,  through  the  prophets,  to  dwell  among 
them,^  for  He  will  spread  His  tabernacle  over  them — being 
with  them  as  one  is  with  those  whom  he  brings  into 
his  tent ;  the  cloudy  pillar  of  old  no  longer  sufficing.  Nor 
will  the  immediate  presence  of  God  be  their  only  felicity, 
for,  when  they  enter  heaven,  all  sorrow  and  sighing  will 
pass  away  for  ever.  Often  hungry  and  thirsty  on  earth, 
in  their  persecution  or  poverty,  16.  they  shall  hunger  no 
more,  neither  thirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the  sun  strike 
down  on  them,  as  when  they  toiled  or  wandered  in  its  burn- 
ing heat,  nor  shall  they  have  to  bear  any  heat  of  glowing 
winds ;  for  the  Lamb,  their  Redeemer,  and  "  Good  Shepherd  " 
on  earth,  will  be  the  same  in  heaven.  It  will  be  with  them, 
as  Isaiah  says  of  Israel  of  old,^  "  They  shall  not  hunger  nor 
thirst ;  neither  shall  the  heat  nor  sun  smite  them ;  for  He 
that  hath  mercy  on  them  shall  lead  them,  even  by  the  springs 
of  water  shall  He  guide  them,  17.  for  the  Lamb  who  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne,  shall  be  their  shepherd,  and  shall  guide 

'  Rev.  i.  6  ;  v.  10.  ^  Lev.  xxvi.  11  ;  Isa.  iv.  5  ;  Ezek.  xxxvii.  27. 

*  Isa.  xlix.  10. 


THE   GREAT   MULTITUDE  279 

them  unto  fountains  of  waters  of  life,  the  "  still  wa,ters,"  in 
"green  pastures,"  ^  and,  as  Isaiah  says  of  old,  that  "the 
Lord  God  will  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces,"  ^  in  the 
Judah  of  His  day,  so,  God  shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from 
their  eyes.^ 

The  judgments  which  were  to  have  been  let  loose  on 
the  earth  in  wild  tempests  of  the  elements,  had  been  held 
back  till  the  sealing  of  the  redeemed  had  been  finished ; 
the  angels  to  whom  had  been  committed  the  sending 
forth  the  winds  on  their  fell  mission,  having  been  made 
to  keep  them,  for  a  time,  under  control.  Indeed,  with 
the  inconsequential  development  of  a  vision,  the  agency 
seems  to  change,  for  do  we  not  hear  of  the  four  winds 
again,  in  the  same  connection  ?  But  the  strained  expecta- 
tion and  mental  tension,  from  the  apparent  hopelessness 
of  the  sealed  book  being  opened,  and,  then,  from  anxiety 
to  know  its  contents,  had  brought  even  the  heavenly 
people  to  a  pause ;  the  very  elders,  the  four  living  crea- 
tures, and  the  hosts  of  angels,  as  it  were,  holding  their 
breath,  in  voiceless  silence ;  and  the  thunderings  and 
voices  from  the  cloudy  veil  of  the  throne,  seeming  to  have 
been  stilled  down,  as  if  in  sympathy.  Overwhelmed  by 
the  thought  of  the  terrors  now  certainly  to  be  announced 
at  the  opening  of  the  last  seal ;  knowing  that  it  must 
reveal  the  final  catastrophe  of  the  Judgment,  the  disclosure 
of  which  had  only  been  held  back  till  the  followers  of 
Christ  had  been  sealed ;  an  interval  of,  it  seemed,  about 
half-an-hour,  passed  in  hushed  soundless  calm.  After 
this,  there  was  renewed  progress  in  the  awful  drama.* 
The  redeemed  had,  indeed,  been  shown  that  they  had  no 
reason  to  fear — white  robed  on  earth,  they  would  be  white 

^  Ps.  xxiii.  2.       2  jga.  xxv.  8.       ^  Rev.  vii,  9-17.       ■*  Rev.  viii.  1  ff. 


280  THE  APOCALYPSE 

robed  above — the  one  because  of  the  other — they  would 
be  kept  faithful  to  the  end,  whatever  befell  mankind  at 
large,  and  whatever  temptations  there  might  be  to  lead 
them  astray.  But  humanity  is  weak,  and  fear,  in  spite  of 
all  this,  filled  their  souls,  as  they  saw  the  seven  angels 
who  stand  before  the  throne  of  God,  receive  from  His 
hands  seven  trumpets,  to  proclaim  the  judgments  the 
seventh  seal  would  let  loose. 

Isaiah  had  predicted  a  time  when  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
would  reign  in  Jerusalem,  "  before  His  elders  gloriously ; "  ^ 
and  the  prophet  Micaiah,  in  Ahab's  reign,  had  painted  a 
visionary  scene  in  heaven,  in  which  God  consulted  with 
His  host,  as  they  stood  on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left, 
"and  one  spoke  on  this  manner,  and  another  said  on  that 
manner,"  as  if  in  council  with  Him.2  In  Job,  we  read  of 
"  a  day  when  the  sons  of  the  Elohim — that  is,  the  angels — 
came  to  present  themselves  before  Jevovah ;  Satan,  as  an 
angel  of  light,  coming  among  them,  and  God  is  repre- 
sented as  speaking  with  him,  at  quite  a  length,  as  to  his 
designs.^  In  the  Psalms,  we  read  of  God  sitting  in  the 
assembly  or  council  of  His  holy  ones;*  and  Jeremiah 
speaks,  also,  of  this  heavenly  council,^  for  the  word  in 
both  passages  means  a  senate  or  consultative  body,^  while, 
in  Daniel,  we  are  told^  that  a  tribunal  of  judges  sat  before 
the  Ancient  of  Days,  and  when  the  books  were  opened, 
"  they  took  away  his  dominion "  from  a  king  condemned 
by  them.^  In  Ezekiel,  seven  angels  are  sent  by  God 
to  carry  out  His  judgments  on  Jerusalem — a  mark,  or 
rather,   cross,  having   been   previously  set  by   them,  in 

1  Isa.  xxiv.  23.  ^  i  Xings  xxii.  19,  20.  ^  job  i.  6  tf. 

4  Ps.  Ixxxix.  7.       5  jer.  xxiii.  18.       «    I'lD  Sod.        '  Dan.  vii.  10,  26. 
8  The  Chaldee  word  is   &^3n,  the  Hebrew,  \n. 


THE   GREAT  MULTITUDE  281 

curious  anticipation  of  the  sealing  in  Eevelation,  on  the 
foreheads  of  all  those  faithful  to  God,  who,  like  the 
Christians  in  the  Apocalypse,  similarly  marked,  were  not 
to  be  harmed.^  And,  finally,  Eliphaz  asks,^  "  Hast  thou 
listened,  in  the  council  of  Eloach?"  The  idea  of  a 
heavenly  council  was  thus  familiar  to  the  Hebrews  for 
many  centuries  before  Christ,  but  their  residence  in 
Babylon,  under  the  Chaldeans  and  Persians,  seems  to 
have  modified  their  ideas  about  the  economy  of  the 
upper  heavens,  through  their  finding  that  the  Great 
King  associated  with  him,  of  course  at  a  vast  distance 
below  his  solitary  grandeur,  seven  princes,  who  acted  as 
his  intermediaries  in  carrying  out  his  decrees,^  and  were 
known  as  those  "  who  saw  the  king's  face,  and  sat  the 
first  in  the  kingdom,"  *  It  was  an  easy  transition,  with 
such  a  suggestion,  in  the  awful  majesty  of  an  Oriental 
Sultan,  to  conceive  of  the  Eternal  as  similarly  setting 
before  Himself,  as  His  immediate  ministers,  seven  angels 
specially  chosen  from  the  hierarchy  of  the  heavens,  for 
this  highest  honour,  and  we  even  find  Tobit  speak  of 
*'  the  seven  holy  angels  who  present  the  prayers  of  the 
saints,"  just  as  in  the  Apocalypse  ;^  it  being  natural  that, 
as  petitions  to  an  earthly  monarch  were  always  presented 
through  some  high  minister  of  the  throne,  prayers  should 
be  presented  in  the  same  way,  by  these  angels  of  the 
presence,  to  God. 

The  seven  trumpets  which  were  to  proclaim  the  closing 
woes  to  be  poured  out  on  the  earth,  before  the  final  Judg- 
ment, having  been  handed  to  these  celestial  princes,  they 
are  seen  standing  with  them  before  the  throne,  wait- 

^  Ezek.  ix  2  Job  XV.  8.         '  Ezra  vii.  1,  14.         *  Esther  i.  14. 

5  Rev.  viii.  3;  Tobit  xii.  15. 


282 


THE   APOCALYPSE 


ing  the  signal  from  the  Almighty,  to  sound  their  awful 
alarm.  Meanwhile,  another  angel  seems  to  come  for- 
ward and  take  his  place  at  the  golden  altar  that  was 
before  the  throne,  as  that  of  burnt- offering  was  before  the 
Holy  Place  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  In  his  hand,  John 
noticed,  he  had  a  golden  censer,  which,  it  appeared,  was 
filled  with  the  prayers  of  the  saints,  and  ''  much  incense  " 

having  been  given  to  him, 
perhaps  by  an  attendant 
angel,  as  in  the  Temple,  it 
was  handed  to  the  minister- 
ing priest  by  a  second,  be- 
hind him;  hepoureditouton 
the  prayers,  and  then,  having 
taken  fire  from  the  altar  to 
kindle  it,  waved  the  burn- 
ing odours  to  and  fro,  so 
that  the  smoke  of  the  in- 
cense went  up  "  with  the 
prayers,  before  God,  out  of 
the  angel's  hand,"  being,  as 
it  were,  "  added  to  them." 
This  over,  a  terrible  scene 
follows.  Taking  the  now 
empty  censer,  the  angel  fills 
it  with  the  burning  wood  from  the  altar,  and  hurls  the 
brands  down  to  the  earth,  where  they  forthwith  cause  an 
uproar  of  thunders,  and  voices,  and  make  the  world  heave 
with  earthquakes,  and  scorch  it  with  lightnings.^  The 
prayers  of  the  saints,  that  God  would  avenge  them  on  their 
persecutors,  had  been  terribly  answered ;  ^  though  all  that 


The  Altar  of  Incense  in  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem. 


1  Rev.  viii.  3,  4,  5. 


2  Rev.  vi.  10. 


THE  GREAT  MULTITUDE  283 

had  befallen  them  was  only  the  first  droppings  of  the 
judgments  about  to  be  poured  out  on  the  ungodly.  This, 
indeed,  the  seven  angels  knew,  for  they  forthwith  lift  their 
trumpets  to  their  lips  and  await  the  command  to  blow 
the  peal  of  doom.^  And  now  came  plagues  like  those  of 
Egypt,  but  infinitely  more  grievous.'^  The  blast  of  the  first 
trumpet  seems,  in  the  vision,  to  be  followed  by  a  deluge 
of  hail,  falling  on  the  earth,  mingled  with  fire  —  that 
is,  licrhtninor — and  an  awful  rain  of  blood.  A  third  of 
the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  is  thus  burnt  up,  while  a 
third  of  the  trees  and  herbage  was  consumed  over  the 
whole  of  it,  and  the  grass  everywhere  scorched  out  of 
the  ground. 

The  second  trumpet  is  now  heard,  and  instantly,  it 
seemed  as  if  a  great  volcano  in  violent  eruption,  like 
some,  perhaps,  which  John  may  have  seen  in  Sicily,  or 
in  the  Lipari  Islands,  for  Vesuvius  was  as  yet  quiescent, 
was  heaved  up  from  its  deep  foundations  and  cast  into 
the  sea,  a  third  part  of  which  seemed  forthwith  to  be 
turned  into  blood ;  a  third  of  all  its  manifold  life 
perishing,  and  what  seemed  a  third  of  all  the  innumer- 
able vessels  which  had  whitened  it  with  their  sails,  going 
down  in  the  wild  convulsion. 

The  third  angel  then  blew  a  blast,  and,  therewith, 
a  great  star,  flaming  like  a  torch,  launched  against  the 
third  part  of  the  rivers  of  the  earth  and  its  fountains  of 
waters,  fell  from  heaven,  poisoning  them  till  they  became 
like  wormwood  for  bitterness ;  the  star  itself  bearing  that 
name;  and  many  men  dying  from  having  to  drink  them. 

The  fourth  trumpet  was  no  less  disastrous  in  its  results. 
As  its  echoes  spread,  John  seemed  to  see  a  third  of  the 

1  Rev.  viii.  G-10.  2  ^xod.  ix.  24  ff. 


284  THE   APOCALYPSE 

round  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  so  darkened  that  the 
light  of  day  and  night  was  a  third  less  than  before. 

The  cup  of  God's  wrath  was  thus  continually  pouring 
out  judgment  after  judgment  on  mankind;  if,  by  any 
means,  they  might  be  brought  to  repent  and  seek  the 
forgiveness  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  The  spectacle  around 
the  seer,  in  the  scenery  of  his  vision,  was  appalling.  The 
trees,  and  all  the  verdure  of  the  earth,  had  been  largely 
destroyed ;  the  sea  strewn  with  wrecks,  and  ghastly  with 
corruption,  heaving  on  all  its  waves ;  the  springs  and 
rivers  turned  into  waters  of  death ;  and,  now,  in  keep- 
ing with  the  imagery  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets,  the 
very  luminaries  of  heaven  shrouded  in  gloom. ^  The 
signs  foretold  by  our  Lord  Himself,  as  immediately  pre- 
ceding His  advent,  had  appeared.^  It  must  be  at  hand !  * 
The  churches  would  soon  be  "  avenged ! "  But  these 
calamities  would  not  affect  the  unbelieving  only  ;  the 
Christians,  scattered  as  they  were  over  all  parts,  would 
have  to  bear  their  weight.  Yet  the  mark  of  their  God 
on  their  foreheads,  though  it  would  not  keep  them  from 
many  sorrows,  would  secure  their  endurance  to  the  end, 
amidst  all  temptations  to  fall  away.  It  was  a  pledge  of 
the  exceeding  and  eternal  fulness  of  glory  awaiting  them 
beyond  the  grave. 

There  was  now  a  pause  in  the  sounding  of  the  trumpets, 
during  which  an  eagle — the  symbol  of  war  and  slaughter 
— appeared,  flying  in  mid-heaven,  where  all  could  see 
his  flight  and  hear  his  cries.  Nothing  is  impossible  in 
visions,  for  they  are  only  dreams  of  a  special  type,  and 
in  accordance  with  this  it  seems  endowed  with  a  loud 

1  Isa.  xiii.  9,  10  ;  lix.  9,  10  ;  Amos  viii.  9  ;  Joel  ii.  30,  31. 
Matt.  xxiv.  29  ;  Mark  xiii.  24 ;  Luke  xxi.  11,  25.  *  Rev.  1.  3. 


THE   GREAT   MULTITUDE  285 

human  voice,  and  proclaims,  ''Woe,  woe,  woe,  for  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,  by  reason  of  the  other  voices  of 
the  trumpet  of  the  three  angels,  who  are  yet  to  sound ; "  ^ 
a  warning  that  their  results  would  be  still  more  grievous 
than  even  those  of  the  four  that  had  preceded. 

1  Rev.  viii.  13. 


CHAPTER   XI 

JUDGMENT   ON  JUDGMENT 

In  the  Authorised  Version,  by  a  corruption  of  the  text, 
an  angel  instead  of  an  eagle  is  seen  by  the  prophet  flying 
in  mid-heaven,  but  strange  as  the  introduction  of  this 
symbol  from  lower  forms  may  be,  it  is  in  keeping  with 
the  narrative  being  only  a  vision :  not  a  sight  of  realities. 
This  must  also  be  kept  in  mind  through  all  the  details 
that  follow.  To  attempt  to  explain  the  exact  significance 
of  the  wondrous  imaginations,  like  nothing  in  nature,  is 
but  wasting  time  and  ingenuity,  except  when  some  light 
is  thrown  on  them  by  the  events  of  John's  day,  showing 
how  they  may  have  been  suggested  to  him.  The  count- 
less explanations  put  forth,  age  after  age,  of  the  symbols 
and  allegories  employed:  so  strange  and  often  monstrous 
to  all  but  Orientals  ;  prove,  by  their  mutual  contradictions, 
and  constantly  demonstrated  worthlessness,  that  we  must 
be  content  to  regard  these  mystical  creations  as  only 
attempts  to  embody  in  human  words,  and  to  materialise 
in  visible  shapes,  the  developments  of  God's  purposes  dimly 
foreseen  in  the  mind  of  the  prophet,  and  oppressing  it 
with  thoughts,  appalling  or  exalting,  beyond  the  power  of 
imagination  adequately  to  set  forth  in  ordinary  language. 
The  Apocalyptic  style  of  Daniel,  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  the 
"  Revelation,"  and  other  similar  writings,  cannot,  in  fact, 
be  treated  as  having,  throughout,  specific  allegorical  mean- 

286 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  287 

ings,  needing  only  the  proper  cipher  to  explain  them, 
but  must  largely  be  viewed  as  rather  intended  to  convey 
general  impressions,  whether  of  transcendent  majesty,  or 
felicity,  or  tribulation.  It  would,  indeed,  be  as  unreason- 
able to  look  upon  Milton's  sublime  personification  of  Sin 
and  Death  ;  mother  and  son ;  as  describing  actualities. 

"  Before  the  gates  [of  hell]  there  sat 
On  either  side  a  formidable  shape  ; 
The  one  seemed  woman  to  the  waist,  and  fair, 
But  ended  foul  in  many  a  scaly  fold 
Voluminous  and  vast,  a  serpent  armed 
With  mortal  sting  :  about  her  middle  round 
A  cry  of  hell-hounds  never  ceasing  barked 
With  wide  Cerberean  mouths  full  loud,  and  rung 
A  hideous  peal ;  yet,  when  they  list,  would  creep. 
If  aught  disturbed  their  noise,  into  her  womb. 
And  kennel  there,  yet  there  still  barked  and  howled, 
Within  unseen. 


The  other  shape, 
If  shape  it  might  be  called  that  shape  had  none 
Distinguishable  in  member,  joint,  or  limb. 
Or  substance  might  be  called  that  shadow  seemed, 
For  each  seemed  either  ;  black  it  stood  as  night, 
Fierce  as  ten  furies,  terrible  as  Hell, 
And  shook  a  dreadful  dart ;  what  seemed  his  head 
The  likeness  of  a  kingly  crown  had  on." 

— Paradise  Lost,  book  ii.  648-673. 

We  feel  that  these  awful  creations  are  only  "  imagina- 
tion bodying  forth  the  forms  of  things  unknown;  the 
poet's  pen  turning  them  to  shapes,  and  giving  to  airy 
nothing,  a  local  habitation  and  a  name."  ^  We  shall  be 
safe,  in  studying  the  Apocalypse,  only  if  we  keep  this 
steadily  in  mind. 

^  Midsummer's  NigMs  Dream,  Act,  v.  so.  i. 


288  THE  APOCALYPSE 

At  the  sounding  of  the  fifth  trumpet,  the  prophet  sees, 
in  his  vision,  a  star  which  had  fallen  from  heaven  to 
earth,  but  this  emblem  presently  appears  to  be  regarded 
as  an  angel,  for  "  there  was  given  to  him  the  key  of  the  pit 
of  the  abyss ; "  ^  the  passage  very  much  resembling  one  in 
the  Book  of  Enoch  quoted  by  St.  Jude,  in  which  a  star  falls 
from  heaven,  and  turning  into  a  living  creature,  "  browses 
among  the  oxen."  ^  The  "  abyss  "  is  imagined  as  a  fathom- 
less depth,  with  an  opening  like  that  of  a  well,  or  spring, 
leading  to  it  from  the  upper  world.  It  is,  in  fact,  that 
under  world  to  which,  St.  Paul  tells  us,  Christ  descended 
after  death,^  while  St.  Luke,  on  the  other  hand,  describes 
it  as  the  region  to  which  the  devils,  when  cast  out,  betake 
themselves ;  the  same  word  being  used  in  both  texts.*  But 
it  is  treated  uniformly  in  the  Apocalypse  as  the  prison- 
house  of  the  devil  and  his  angels,  and,  in  keeping  with 
this,  is  translated  in  the  Authorised  Version,  each  of  the 
seven  times  it  is  mentioned,  as  "the  bottomless  pit."^ 
It  is  closed  by  impassable  gates,  secured  by  a  key,  which 
our  Lord  now  holds,  in  token  of  His  victorious  death  and 
resurrection,^  though  the  word  Hades  is  used  instead  of 
''  abyss  "  in  the  text  which  tells  us  this.  But  Hades  is 
constantly  employed  as,  alike,  the  region  of  the  dead  and 
the  place  of  woe ;  ^  the  dwelling  of  evil  spirits  and  of  the 
lost.^  There  was  indeed  no  little  resemblance  between  the 
Hebrew  ideas  of  the  lower  world  and  those  of  heathen 
antiquity.  A  "bottomless  pit,"  reeking  with  poisonous 
vapours,  and  fancied  to  be  the  mouth  of  Pluto's  fell  king- 

1  Rev.  ix.  1.  2  Enoch  86.  ^  Ro^,  x.  7.         "*  Luke  viii.  31. 

5  Rev.  ix.  12,  11 ;  xi.  7  ;  xvii.  8  ;  xx.  1,  3.      «  j^ev.  i.  18.     ^  Luke  xvi.  23. 
«  Matt.  xi.  23  ;  xvi.  18  ;  Luke  x.  15  ;  xiv.  23  ;  Acts  ii.  27  ;  Rev.  vi.  8  ; 
xxi.  13,  14. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  289 

dom,  was  an  object  of  terror  near  Hierapolis,  and  must 
have  been  well  known  to  John.^  The  Greeks  and  Komans 
alike  believed  these  dark  and  terrible  realms  to  be  under 
the  earth.  Their  gate,  when  entered,  could  not  be  repassed, 
and,  as  in  the  New  Testament,  there  were  in  them  two 
regions ;  the  one  for  the  blessed,  the  other  for  the  con- 
demned. The  sixth  book  of  the  JEneid  paints  the  bliss 
of  the  good  and  the  tortures  of  the  guilty  shades  in  these 
dark  abodes,  in  words, — now,  worthy  of  Paradise ;  now, 
terrible  as  the  description  of  hell  in  the  Apocalypse. 

When  John  sees  this  "abyss"  in  his  vision,  its  key 
has  been  ha/ided  to  the  star- angel,  who  forthwith  opens 
the  awful  prison  house,  from  which,  presently,  a  smoke 
rises,  like  that  of  a  great  furnace,  such  as  men  use  for 
smelting  iron,^  darkening  the  sky.  Such  a  fuliginous  out- 
burst he  may  possibly  have  seen,  if  he  had  lately  sailed 
past  the  then  volcanic  island  of  Thera,  in  the  Archipelago, 
in  these  years,  in  violent  eruption.  The  smoke  of  its 
convulsions,  like  that  from  Etna  and  Stromboli,  had 
been  thought  by  all  to  rise  from  the  penal  fires  of  the 
lower  world,  and,  so,  John  sees  in  the  smoke  from  the 
abyss,  that  of  the  furnace-like  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone, 
which  he  afterwards  mentions,^  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels,  and  all  the  wicked.  But  the  wild,  eddy- 
ing, black  clouds,  presently  revealed  a  more  terrible 
sight,  for  a  countless  number  of  monstrous  locust- like 
beings  poured  on  the  earth  from  amidst  it ;  recalling  the 
locusts  seen  by  Joel — "  a  nation  strong  and  without 
number,  with  the  teeth  and  the  jaws  of  a  great  lion ; 
like  horses  in  their  appearance,  and  running  like  cavalry ; 

1  PHnj^  Hist.  Nat.  ii.  95.  -  Matt.  xiii.  42,  50  ;  Rev.  i.  15  ;  ix.  L 

»  Rev.  XX.  10,  14  ;  xxi.  8. 
IV.  T 


290  THE   APOCALYPSE 

leaping  on  the  mountain  tops  with  a  noise  like  that  of 
chariots,  or  of  fire  when  it  devours  the  stubble,  and  rushing 
on  like  a  strong  people  set  in  battle  array."  ^  John's  locusts, 
also,  were  "  like  horses  prepared  for  war,  and  their  sound 
was  like  that  of  chariots,  and  of  many  horses  rushing  to 
war."  But  not  only  were  the  pictures  of  Joel  reproduced  : 
the  prophet  seems  to  make  use  of  an  Arab  poetical 
description  of  this  form  of  plague, as  "like  horses  in  their 
heads,  lions  in  their  breasts,  camels  in  their  feet,  serpents 
in  their  bodies,  and  the  hair  of  women  in  their  horns,"  or 
antennae.^  For  these  locusts  seemed  as  if  the  gleaming 
top  of  their  heads  were  gold  crowns,  while  their  faces 
were  human  and  they  had  women's  hair,  and  the  teeth 
of  lions,  and  stinging  tails  like  scorpions,  and  their  breasts 
seemed  as  if  defended  by  iron  breastplates.  Like  locusts, 
however,  they  were  to  have  power  to  do  harm  for  only  a 
summer;  locusts  coming  and  disappearing  in  the  five 
months  of  heat,  as  these  were  to  do.^  At  the  head  of 
this  army  of  the  pit  was,  as  might  be  expected,  a  king 
— the  angel  of  the  abyss — in'  Hebrew,  Abaddon,  ''The 
Destroyer  ;"  a  name  John  uses  interchangeably  with  the 
Greek,  Apollyon,  which  means  the  same.  The  plagues 
that  had  been  sent  forth  till  now,  had  struck  nature  as  well 
as  man,  but  these  hideous  assailants  were  to  touch  only 
men,  and  such  men  alone  as  had  not  the  seal  of  God  on 
their  foreheads.  These  they  were  to  sting  like  scorpions ; 
causing  such  misery  that  their  victims  would  seek  death, 
though  only  to  find  that  they  could  not  die.  Among  the 
rabbis,  Abaddon  is  the  name  given  to  the  lowest  region 
of  hell,  which,  indeed,  is,  as  a  whole,  called  by  this  ominous 
word ;  ^  now  fitly  given  by  John  to  the  being  who  rules 

^  Joel  i.  G  ;  ii.  4,  5.         ^  Dusterdieck.         ^  Rev.  ix.  5.         ^  Schotfcgen. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  291 

that  awful  empire,  and  is,  as  it  were,  its  personification. 
But  beyond  the  locusts  conveying  a  terrible  symbol  of 
the  woes  to  precede  Christ's  coming,  it  is  vain  to  seek 
definite  meanings  for  them.  Yet  we  can  at  least  feel 
assured  that  they  were  intended  to  stand  for  men,  from 
their  having  human  faces;  though  hardly  for  an  army, 
since  they  were  not  to  take  life,  but  to  spread  such 
misery,  short  of  doing  so,  as  would  make  men  sigh  for 
death.  The  whole  conception,  in  fact,  seems  only  a  vivid 
way  of  picturing  distress,  instigated  by  the  powers  of  evil, 
Ijut  brought  upon  men  by  their  fellows ;  such  distress 
as  times  so  out  of  joint  abundantly  produced  in  every 
form. 

But  the  dream-scenery  is  about  to  change  again.  The 
huge,  undefined  tribulations  just  foreshadowed  were,  we 
may  fear,  too  soon  known  by  the  churches ;  though  buried, 
when  that  generation  had  passed  away,  under  succeeding 
troubles  as  great;  rising  like  earthquake  waves,  in  all 
regions,  almost  from  year  to  year,  in  those  wild  days, 
especially  in  Palestine.  Suddenly,  John  hears  a  voice, 
it  is  not  said  whose,  closing  the  scene  of  the  locust-like 
army  of  the  pit  with  the  proclamation,  that  "  The  first 
woe  is  past :  behold  there  come  yet  two  woes  hereafter."  ^ 
Then  there  falls  on  the  earth  the  sound  of  the  sixth 
trumpet,^  followed  by  a  voice  from  the  horns  of  the  golden 
altar  before  God, — from  ofl'  which  the  coals  had  been  taken, 
that,  when  dashed  on  the  earth,  had  so  terribly  avenged 
tlie  sufferings  of  the  martyrs  on  their  enemies ;  in  answer 
to  their  cry  from  under  it.  The  voice,  apparently  that  of 
God  Himself,  now  carries  out,  still  farther,  the  retribution 
on  the  world  for  its  evil  treatment  of  the  Christians  and 

1  Rev.  ix.  12.  -  Rev.  ix.  13. 


292  THE  APOCALYPSE 

for  its  other  wickedness;  commanding  that  four  angels 
bound  at  the  Euphrates,  of  whom  we  now  first  hear,  be 
loosed.     Who  they  were,  or  when  bound,  or  why,  is  not 
told,  though   possibly   the   expression   only  means  that 
these  ministers  of  God  had  been  hitherto  restrained  from 
going  out  on  their  errand  of  death,  till  the  very  "hour, 
and  day,  and  month,  and  year,"  had  come ;  against  which 
they  had  been  appointed  by  God.^    Their  dreadful  mission 
was  to  kill  the  third  part  of  men.      A  fourth  of  man- 
kind had   already  been    destroyed  by   the  pale   rider; 2 
"  many  "  had  died  from  the  poisoning  of  the  springs  and 
rivers,^  and  now  a  third  of  all   remaining  were  to   be 
destroyed.     More  than  half  the  whole  population  of  the 
habitable  globe  is  thus  described,  as  perishing  in  the  con- 
vulsions of  nature  and  society,  seen  in  dim  gigantic  out- 
line, through  the  veil  of  the  near  future.     Bat  this  is  but 
an  echo  of  the  language  of  Christ  Himself,  when  He  warns 
those  He  was  addressing,  to  flee  from  the  "tribulation" 
they  should  one  day  see,  for  it  would  be  "  such  as  there 
had  not  been  the  like  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation 
until  now,  and  never  shall  be."  *    Yet,  after  the  accession 
of  Vespasian  to  the  empire,  on  July  1st  A.D.  69,  there 
was  general  peace,  except  in  Judaea,  where  the  agony  of 
the  Jewish  revolt  continued,  till  the  taking  of  Jerusalem, 
in  September  of  the  next  year.     Nero  had  killed  himself 
in  68,  so  that  the  fierce  and  terribly  bloody  civil  wars 
that  followed,  till  the  final  triumph  of  Vespasian,  lasted 
little  more  than  a  year.     It  would  appear,  therefore,  as  if 
the  imagery  of  the  Apocalypse  pointed,  at  least  in  this 
case,   to  Jud^a;    the    only   place   where    inconceivable 
miseries  of  the  sword,  famine,  and  pestilence,  as  fore- 

1  Rev.  ix.  15.       2  jj^^v.  vi.  8.       ^  K,ev.  viii.  11.       ^  Matt.  xxiv.  21. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  293 

shadowed  in  his  vision,  could  then  have  been  suffered. 
Yet,  this  is  impossible,  since  the  men  slain  by  the  four 
angels  were  worshippers  of  the  "devils"  represented  by 
idols  of  metal,  or  stone,  or  wood.^  Perhaps  it  is  best 
to  interpret  the  imagery,  as  a  whole,  as  a  succession  of 
hyperboles  such  as  the  East  estimates  less  literally  than 
the  language  seems  to  warrant.  That  the  armies  of 
cavalry  following  the  angels  are  said  to  have  numbered 
two  hundred  millions,^  makes  it  at  least  sure  that,  in  this 
particular,  Oriental  mode  of  speech  had  full  play ;  for,  of 
course,  that  number  is  simply  impossible.  The  wish  of 
the  seer,  we  may  presume,  is  merely  to  indicate,  on  the 
one  hand,  terrible  sufferings  among  those  visited  by 
the  Divine  wrath,  and,  on  the  other,  vast  forces,  seen  or 
unseen,  by  which  that  wrath  is  carried  out. 

It  is  instructive — as  an  illustration  of  the  close  resem- 
blance between  the  visions  or  trances  of  prophets  or 
apostles  and  ordinary  dreams,  that,  as  in  our  dreams, 
while  our  physical  powers  are  dormant,  the  imagination 
and  other  mental  faculties,  then,  only,  attain  their  highest 
activity  and  range — to  find  John  recording  the  appearance, 
in  his  vision,  as  an  image  boding  all  that  was  most  terrible 
in  war,  huge  armies  of  cavalry  coming  from  precisely  that 
quarter  from  which,  about  a  hundred  years  before,  the 
invasion  of  the  endless  hordes  of  mounted  Parthians  had 
carried  fire  and  slaughter  through  Judaea — their  rough 
steppe  horses  bursting  in  on  its  peaceful  landscapes,  and 
after  passing  over  them  like  a  rushing  storm,  vanishing  as 
suddenly  as  they  came,  leaving  a  smoking  waste,  silent 
in  death  and  universal  ruin,  amid  scenes,  a  few  hours  be- 
fore,the  homes  of  a  peaceful  and  happy  population.  The  wild 

1  Rev.  ix.  20.  -  Rev.  ix.  16. 


294  THE   APOCALYPSE 

yells  of  this  dreadful  barbarian  enemy  ;  like  the  bellowing 
of  beasts;  the  hideous  thunder  of  their  countless  drums; 
their  breastplates  and  helmets  of  steel,  glittering  like 
lightning ;  their  horses  covered  with  brass  and  steel  trap- 
pings;  the  faces  of  the  horsemen  painted  like  those  of 
wild  Indians  ;    their  matted  hair  gathered  up  on  their 
foreheads,   in  Scythian  fashion ;   their  dreadful   lances ; 
their  feigned  retreats,  in  which  their  deadly  arrows,  fired 
backwards  as  they  fled,  were  specially  fatal  behind  them ; 
their  countless  swarms  hidden  in  the  clouds  of  dust  of  their 
rushing  advance  ;  their  spears,  their  slings,  their  blazing 
banners,  gleaming  with  gold  and  silver,   are  all  dwelt 
upon  by  the  Eoman  historians,  and  tilled   the  minds  of 
men  over  all  the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  empire,  from 
the  days  of  Crassus,  thirteen  years  before  their  invasion 
of  Palestine,  to  the  reign  of  Trajan,  with  indescribable 
terror.    All  this  evidently  rises  in  the  unsleeping  imagina- 
tion of  the  seer,  as  he  had  heard  of  it  from  the  survivors 
of  a  past  generation ;  as  waking  impressions  colour  our 
visions  of  the  night;  and  supplies  imagery  supremely  fitting 
the  evil  times  it  has  been  given  him  to  predict.     In  his 
trance  he  sees  these  awful  enemies  sweeping  back  again 
from  across  the  Euphrates,  on  their  lean,  untiring  horses, 
sweeping  through  every  valley  of  Judaea,  the  embodiment 
of  treachery,  greed,  and  ruthless  barbarity.     His  mind, 
full  of  the  horrors  impending  on  mankind,  sees  all  this  as 
if  with  the  senses,  and  his  dreaming  imagination  bodies  it 
forth  in  colossal  grandeur,  as  a  picture  of  what  is  about  to 
recur,  to  the  sore  misfortune  of  the  world. 

It  may  well  be,  moreover,  that  the  remembrance  of  the 
dreaded  Parthians  rose  in  his  wandering  memory,  from  the 
universal  excitement  then  reigning,  about  the  expected 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  295 

return  of  Nero  from  beyond  the  Euphrates,  at  the  head  of 
a  vast  army  of  these  most  bitter  enemies  of  Rome,  to  fight 
his  way  to  the  throne  again,  with  their  help.  The  com- 
mon people,  everywhere,  were  firm  in  the  belief  that  he 
was  not  dead ;  that  the  wound  in  his  throat  had  been 
healed,  and  that  he  was,  for  the  time  only,  in  hiding,  till 
the  fitting  moment  came  for  crossing  the  Eastern  fron- 
tiers. The  prevalence  of  this  conviction  has  already  been 
noticed,  but  the  subject  bears  so  directly  on  the  right 
understanding  of  the  Apocalypse,  that,  even  at  the  risk  of 
repetition,  I  may  quote  some  of  the  notices  of  antiquity 
on  the  subject.  Suetonius  affirms  that  Nero  fled  from  Rome 
with  the  intention  of  seeking  aid  from  the  Parthians,  and 
that,  soon  after  his  death,  edicts  appeared,  as  issued  by 
him,  proclaiming  that  he  was  alive,  and  would  presently 
return,  to  the  sore  discomfiture  of  his  enemies.^  Twenty 
years  after  his  death,  Tacitus  tells  us,  a  false  Nero  found 
such  high  favour  among  the  Parthians,  that  they  were 
like  to  take  up  arms  on  his  behalf.  Galba  is  made  by 
the  same  authority,  to  say,  that  Nero  will  always  be 
regretted  by  the  unworthy,  and  that  the  effort  must  be,  to 
keep  him  from  being  regretted  by  better  people.  Otho 
was  credited  with  the  wish  to  honour  him  as  a  means 
of  securing  the  favour  of  the  masses,  and  the  monster's 
statues  were  even  set  up  again  by  some.^  Greece  and 
Asia,  he  tells  us,  were  terrified  by  a  false  alarm  that  lie 
was  indeed  coming  back,  and  might  appear  at  any  moment ; 
the  adventurer  being  a  ?lave  of  Pontus,  a  famous  player 
on  the  harp,  whose  story  I  have  already  told.^  Another 
pretender  found  sympathy  among  the  Parthians  in  the 
days  of  Titus,  and  hoped  to  win   the  empire  by  their 

1  Sueton.  Nero,  47,  57.       ^  Tac.  Hist.  i.  2,  16,  78.       ^  Xae.  Uist.  ii.  8. 


296  THE  APOCALYPSE 

help,^  and  we  are  told  that,  even  so  late  as  about  thi 
year  100,  ''every  one  wished  he  were  alive,  and  the 
majority  believed  he  was  really  so,  though  then  he  would 
have  been  sixty-three  years  old."  ^ 

This  strange  and  ominous  belief  must  have  fallen  with 
the  most  terrible  effect  on  the  ears  of  the  Christians,  who 
had  looked  on  Nero,  ever  since  the  massacres  of  their 
brethren  in  64,  after  the  burning  of  Eome,  as  assuredly 
the  Antichrist ;  the  incarnation  of  the  prince  of  devils, 
ruling  the  evil  hosts  of  the  abyss.  This  persuasion 
throws  strong  light  on  much  that  is  yet  to  come  in  the 
Apocalypse,  and  shows  how  readily  the  idea  of  the  Par- 
thians  would  mingle  with  the  dark  anticipations  of  the 
future,  sent  from  above  into  the  mind  of  the  seer.  For, 
beyond  question,  the  hosts  he  now  saw  let  loose  by  the 
four  angels,  must  have  recalled  the  memory  of  these 
barbarians,  who  were  such  terrors  of  the  age.  The  hordes 
that  poured  on,  in  the  vision,  were  the  very  counterparts 
of  these  fierce  hosts,  in  their  fiery  blue-and-brimstone 
coloured  mail,  on  horses  the  wild  manes  of  which  made 
their  heads  look  like  those  of  lions ;  their  dilated  nostrils 
seeming  to  the  awe-stricken  beholder,  to  breathe  flame 
and  sulphurous  smoke ;  their  very  breath  appearing  to 
kill  men.  Yet  this  terrible  imagery  may  have,  in  part, 
been  suggested  by  the  picture  of  "  Leviathan  "  in  Job,  out 
of  whose  mouth  "  go  burning  torches,  and  a  smoke  out 
of  his  nostrils ;  his  breath  kindles  coals."  ^  The  mention 
of  brimstone  is,  moreover,  a  sign  that  the  hosts  of  the 
vision  came  from  the  pit.^  But  one  detail,  though  easily 
applicable  to  forms  like   scorpions^  is  much  less  so  to 

^  Cassius  Dio.  Ixiv.  9.  ^  Dio.  Chrysostomus,  Orat.  xxi.  10. 

3  Job  xli.  19-21.  4  j^^v.  xiv.  10;  xix.  20  ;  xxi.  8. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  297 

horses,  for  their  tails  were  "  like  serpents,  and  had  heads," 
and  with  them,  as  well  as  their  breath,  "  they  did  hurt." 
It  looks  as  if  John  had  noticed  the  sculptures  on  a  huge 
altar  to  Jupiter,  at  Pergamos,  which  the  passion  in  Asia 
Minor  for  worshipping  the  reigning  emperor,  had  trans- 
ferred to  Nero.  Standing  before  the  temple  which  Christ 
had  denounced,  from  this  very  fact,  as  "  Satan's  throne,"  ^ 
it  was  adorned  with  great  sculptures  of  the  victory  of  the 
gods  of  Olympus  over  the  giants,  and  these  were  carved 
with  tails  for  legs ;  the  tails  ending  in  heads  with  open 
jaws.^  So  thoroughly  did  the  faculties,  even  under  in- 
spiration, retain,  outside  of  it,  all  their  human  character- 
istics: gathering  material  for  their  imagery  from  all 
sources,  as  the  mind  does  in  all  ages,  in  its  waking  or 
dreaming  reveries. 

But  the  judgment  which,  by  this  fearful  agency,  mowed 
down  a  third  of  the  population  of  the  heathen  world, 
failed  to  lead  the  survivors  to  abandon  the  idolatry 
which  had  brought  it  on  them.^  "  They  did  not  repent,  of 
worshipping  the  idols  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  stone,  and 
wood,  which  can  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk,  and  are 
only  the  work  of  their  own  hands,  and  are  devils,  not 
gods."  Nor  did  they  give  up  their  "  murders,  sorceries 
fornication,  and  thefts ; "  sins  which  stand  for  heathen 
ungodliness  as  a  whole.  Those  who  had  been  sealed  to 
God  had  not  been  stricken  with  this  last  curse,  which  the 
sixth  trumpet  had  let  loose  on  the  nations,  but  the  cry  of 
the  saints  below  the  altar,  to  "judge  and  avenge  their 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth "  was,  indeed, 
being  heard.* 

^  Rev.  ii.  13.  Fabricius  u.  Trendelenburg,  Pergamon,  G4. 

'^  Rev.  ix.  20,  21.  ^  Rev.  vi.  10. 


298  THE  APOCALYPSE 

This  scene  now  fades  away ;  the  abyss  and  its  legions 
having  done  their  work,  the  "insubstantial  pageant" 
vanishes;  to  give  place,  shortly,  to  another  similar 
creation,  revealing  another  step  in  the  approach  of  the 
final  judgment  and  the  appearing  of  Christ,  which  was 
now  "at  the  door." 

The  great  world  drama  was,  for  the  moment,  however, 
interrupted  in  its  advance  to  the  final  catastrophe,  by 
another  pause.  Looking  up  from  the  earth,  to  which  it 
would  seem,  he  had  now,  in  his  vision,  returned,^  John 
sees  another  mighty  angel  coming  down  out  of  heaven, 
who  appears  invested  with  some  of  the  attributes  of 
Jehovah.2  He  is  not  only  invested  with  almighty 
powers,  but,  we  are  told,  he  was  also  enrobed  in  a 
cloud,  just  as  Christ  had  said  he  would  come,^  and  as 
he  is  represented  in  the  Apocalypse  itself,  as  coming.* 
To  come  in  clouds,  indeed,  is  the  distinctive  mark  of  the 
divine  presence,  alike  among  the  Hebrews  and  antiquity 
at  large,  as  when  Horace  casts  them  round  "  the  beaming 
shoulders  of  Apollo."  ^  "  The  rainbow,"  moreover,  which 
we  only  meet  elsewhere  in  the  Apocalypse,  "  round  about 
the  throne"  of  God,^  rested  on  his  head,  and  his  face, 
like  that  of  Christ,''  shone  like  the  sun,  and  his  feet,  also 
like  those  of  our  Lord,  glowed  as  if  they  burned  in  a 
furnace,  or  like  the  glittering  columns  of  burnished  brass 
which  John  had  often  seen  in  front  of  temples.^ 

The  book  received  from  the  throne  by  the  Lamb  had 
been  closed  by  seven  seals,  but  this  angel  held  in  his 
right  hand,  a  small  open  roll ;   a  sign  that  the  divine 

1  Rev.  X.  1.  2  (Jen.  xviii.  ^  Luke  xxi.  27.  ^  Rev.  i.  7. 

5  Horace,  lib.  i.  Od.  2,  31.  ^  Rev.  iv.  3. 

7  Rev.  i.  :6.  «  j^^^^  ^  15  .  j;^  js. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  299 

decrees  in  it  were  forthwith  to  be  fulfilled ;  for  in  those 
times  the  decrees  of  majesty,  when  suspended  in  execu- 
tion, were  sealed  up,  but  when  ordered  to  be  presently 
carried  out  were  laid  open.  Alighting  on  the  earth  the 
wondrous  form  set  his  right  foot  on  the  sea,  and  his  left 
on  the  land,^  sd  that  his  stature  must  have  been,  indeed, 
colossal;  reminding  us  of  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  whom 
David  saw,  standing  between  the  earth  and  the  heaven.^ 
But  now  he  calls  the  earth  to  hearken  to  his  words  anon 
to  follow ;  his  voice  sounding  like  the  roar  of  a  lion,  as  is 
said,  in  the  old  prophets,  of  that  of  Jehovah  in  His  anger ,^ 
— so  closely  does  John  copy  Old  Testament  imagery.  The 
figure  indeed  seems  to  have  been  a  popular  one  in  those 
days,  for  it  is  used  also  of  the  voice  of  the  Messiah,  in 
Second  Esdras,  a  book  of  the  same  date  as  the  Apoca- 
lypse.* To  this  awful  cry,  the  seven  thunders  which 
had  sounded  when  the  angels  lifted  their  trumpets  to 
proclaim  the  judgments  of  God — thunders  which  were 
the  very  voice  of  Jehovah  ^ — added  their  awful  Amen,  in 
solemn  confirmation.  But  though  John  heard  the  words 
of  the  mighty  herald,  it  was  not  permitted  him  to  write 
them  down.  Like  some  spoken  to  Daniel,  they  were  to 
be  "shut  up  and  sealed,"  as  relating  to  an  as  yet  un- 
revealed  future.^  The  prohibition  was  to  be  withdrawn 
before  the  book  was  finished,  for  then  the  time  of  fulfil- 
ment would  be  "  at  hand."  ^  The  disclosure  of  the  final 
judgment  was  not  to  be  made  in  the  next  scene  of  the 
vision,  but  later. 

1  Rev.  X.  3  fF.  ^  1  Chron.  xxi.  16. 

^  Amos  i.  2  ;  ii.  8  ;  Hos.  xi.  10  ;  Joel  iv.  16. 
*  2  Esdras  xi.  37 ;  xii.  31.  ^  Ps.  xxix.  39. 

«  Dan.  viii.  26  ;  xii.  4,  9  ;  Rev.  x.  4.  '  Rev.  xxii.  10. 


300  THE  APOCALYPSE 

But  he  was  soon  to  see  and  hear  much  which  he  was 
free  to  put  down. 

The  mighty  form  standing  upon  the  sea  and  the  earth 
presently  lifted  up  his  right  hand, — as  is  said  of  Jehovah, 
by  Isaiah,  when  He  condescended  to  engage  to  bless  Jeru- 
salem,^— and  swore, — as  a  sign  that  the  decree  was  irre- 
vocable— "  by  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  who 
created  the  heaven  and  the  things  that  are  therein,  and 
the  earth  and  the  things  that  are  therein,  and  the  sea  and 
the  things  that  are  therein,"  ^  that  there  should  be  time  no 
longer :  no  more  delay — no  more  respite  granted  to  man- 
kind :  their  final  judgment  would  now  be  carried  out. 

"  In  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  when  he  sets  himself  to  sound  the  seventh — the  last 
— trumpet — not  later,  but  not  sooner,  the  mystery  of  God  will 
be  finished — literally  completed  and  ended,  according  to  the 
good  tidings  which  He  had  already  declared  to  His  servants, 
the  prophets."  ^ 

The  great  voice  now  ceased,  but  presently  that  which 
John  had  previously  heard  from  heaven,  again  spoke, 
telling  him  to  go  to  the  angel  and  take  from  him  the 
book  open  in  his  hand.  Having  done  so,  he  was  to  "  eat 
it  up  ;  "  a  figure  of  speech  common  among  the  Jews  from 
early  times,  and  equivalent  to  our  phrase  about  "  devour- 
ing a  book  " — that  is,  making  it  thoroughly  our  own,  by 
deep  pondering  on  its  contents.  The  rabbis,  and  our 
Lord  Himself,  indeed,  make  use  of  it,  for  it  is  required 
by  both,  that  fervent  disciples  of  the  Messiah  must  eat 
His  flesh  and   drink  His  blood."  *     Jeremiah   also  had 

1  Isa.  Ixii.  8.       ^  Dout.  xxxii.  40 ;  Dan.  xii.  7  ;  Gen.  xiv.  22;  Exod.  xx.  11. 

^  Amos  iii.  7  ;  Rev.  x.  7. 

^  John  vi.  51,  53,  56.     See  Lightfoot  on  these  verses,  vol.  iii.  306  flf. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  301 

used  the  same  figure,  declaring  of  the  words  of  God,  that 
"  they  were  found  and  I  did  eat  them,  and  they  were  a 
joy  to  me  and  the  rejoicing  of  my  heart,"  ^  and  Ezekiel 
tells  us  that  a  roll  or  book  was  given  him  to  eat,  and  on 
his  doing  so,  it  was,  as  in  John's  case,  as  sweet  as  honey 
in  his  mouth. 2  But  though  the  "  lamentations,  and 
mourning,  and  woe"  written  both  inside  and  out,  on 
that  of  Ezekiel,  did  not  bring  after  it  bitterness  to  his 
heart,  it  was  different  with  John.^  The  revelations  to 
be  made  to  him  were  at  first  sweet,  for  he  would  be  told 
to  measure  the  Temple,  and  thus  secure  its  safety  and 
that  of  the  worshippers  in  it,  amidst  the  troubles  coming 
on  the  Holy  City,  but  they  would  be  bitter  in  their 
announcement  that  Jerusalem  was,  for  a  time,  to  be 
''  trodden  under  foot "  by  the  heathen  ;  the  doom  of  the 
world  being  suspended  till  God's  purposes  with  the  Temple 
City  had  been  disclosed.  And  now,  as  if  the  knowledge 
permitted  him  to  receive  in  the  small  book,  had  qualified 
him  to  do  so,  he  was  told  that  though  for  the  moment 
forbidden  to  "  prophesy,"  by  making  known  what  he 
liad  heard,  he  was  hereafter  to  do  so,  again,  respecting 
"  many  peoples,  and  nations,  and  tongues,  and  kings,"  and 
to  this  permission  we  owe  the  rest  of  the  book.* 

A  new  scene  now  opens,  but  instead  of  a  revelation 
in  symbol,  of  the  final  destiny  of  the  world  at  large,  a 
prophecy  of  the  fortunes  of  Jerusalem  is  pictured  before 

1  Jer.  XV.  16.  ^  ^zek.  iii.  1-3. 

^  With  us  the  seat  of  emotions  is  the  heart  :  in  antiqiiit}',  it  was 
guessed  to  be  in  the  bowels,  and  hence  they  are  mentioned  as  the  part 

stricken   with   sorrow.     Gen.   xliii.    30  ;  1    Kings   iii.    26  ;    Eccles.  v.  4  ; 

2  Cor.  vi.  12  ;  Phil.  i.  8  ;  ii.  1  ;  Col.  iii.  12,  &c.  For  the  opinion  of  other 
races  see  (rir\dyxi'ov  in  the  Lexicons, 

"  Rev.  X.  11. 


302  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  seer,  in  emblematic  imagery.  The  vision  of  Ezekiel,^ 
in  which  an  angel  is  seen  measuring  the  Temple,  forms, 
undoubtedly,  the  ground-material  of  John's  vision  also. 
A  measuring-reed  is  put  into  his  hand  and  he  is  told  to 
measure  the  Temple  of  God — the  building  proper,  and  the 
altar  of  burnt-offering,  standing  before  the  Holy  Place,  with 
the  worshippers  at  it ;  the  courts  of  the  priests  and  those  of 
the  men  and  women  being  thus  included.  The  outer  court 
of  the  Gentiles  was  not,  however,  to  be  measured ;  but  to 
be  passed  over,  and  "  cast  out,"  because  it,  and  also  the  city, 
had  been  already  seized  by  the  heathen  foe,  who  were  to 
tread  it  under  foot  for  forty- two  months — three  years  and 
a  half.  This  is  the  time,  in  the  vision  of  Daniel,  during 
which  Jerusalem  was  to  be  oppressed  by  Antiochus,^ 
already  alluded  to  by  Christ  as  "  the  times  of  the  Gen- 
tiles,"^ in  reference  to  the  profanation  of  the  Holy  City  by 
the  Komans,  as  it  is  now,  more  fully,  by  John,  here.  But 
he  himself,  as  we  have  seen,  is  to  survive  the  catastrophe.* 
Nothing  is  said  of  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  for  no 
Jew  could  conceive  of  this  "  dwelling-place  "  of  Jehovah 
being  allowed  by  Him  to  perish,  though  Christ  Himself 
had  said  that  it  would  be  utterly  overthrown.  Indeed, 
even  when  shut  up  in  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  none  dreamed 
that,  though  the  enemy  might  take  the  city  and  the 
Temple  grounds,  as  far  as  the  barrier,  to  pass  beyond 
which  was  death  to  a  heathen,  they  would  ever  be  per- 
mitted to  injure  the  holy  building, — the  seat  of  a  worship 
of  which,  as  they  fancied,  that  in  heaven  itself  was  only 
an  imitation ;  and  John  was  apparently  of  the  same 
opinion.     All  else  might  be  profaned  by  heathen  feet,  but 

1   Ezek.  xl.  .3  ;  xlii.  20.  2  D^n.  ix.  27  ;  vii.  25  ;  xii.  7. 

3  Luke  xxi.  24.  4  Rev.  x.  11. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  303 

the  Temple,  the  altar,  and  the  courts  of  the  worshipping 
Israelites,  were  under  God's  protection  and  would  remain 
safe.  Even  John  of  Gischala,  one  of  the  fiercest  of  the 
Zealots,  proclaimed,  when  Eoman  fire  already  leaped  up 
the  outer  walls  of  its  courts,  that  the  Temple  itself  could 
never  be  hurt.  This  belief,  indeed,  was  so  profound,  that 
it  imposed  on  the  Romans  themselves ;  deserters  to  the 
Jews  being  numerous  even  to  the  last  days  of  the  siege ; 
their  confidence  in  the  inviolability  of  the  Temple  beino- 
greater  than  in  the  battering-rams  of  Titus.^  John  cluno-, 
moreover,  to  the  period  of  three  years  and  a  half  given 
in  Daniel,  as  the  limit  of  the  profanation  of  the  Holy  City 
— after  which  its  deliverance  was  to  come ;  for  thus  his 
generation  read  that  prophecy.  The  Temple  was,  hence, 
in  his  view,  to  be  the  sacred  space  in  which  the  faithful 
might  find  safety  for  the  forty-two  months  of  invasion — 
the  half  of  a  "  week  of  years,"  first  used  by  Daniel,  and 
borrowed  from  that  book  by  later  Apocalyptic  writers. 

The  measuring  commanded  was,  therefore,  to  secure 
the  safety  of  the  true  worshippers  of  God ;  not  for  their 
judgment.  The  Gentiles  might  get  possession  of  the  city, 
and  even  of  the  outworks  in  the  Temple  grounds,  but 
could  not  be  allowed  to  come  into  the  parts  safeguarded 
by  the  symbolical  act  of  the  prophet.  It  is  vain  to  ask 
how  much,  in  such  a  vision,  is  to  be  taken  literally,  or 
how  much  was  intended  only  for  a  vivid  prophetic  vision, 
in  a  highly- wrought  poetical  form;  the  safest  course  is 
to  remember  that  we  have  only  the  pictures  of  a  dream 
before  us,  which  paints,  in  Oriental  style,  the  general 
truth,  that  the  Christians  would  be  under  the  protection 
of  God,  in  the  troubles  coming  on  the  Holy  City,  but 

^  Jos.  Bell.  Jud.  vi.  2,  1 ;  Dio.  Cass.  Ixvi.  5. 


304  THE   APOCALYPSE 

permits  John  to  do  so  in  accordance  with  the  contem- 
porary interpretation  of  the  ancient  oracles. 

The  same  unnamed  speaker  who  had  commanded  John 
to  measure  the  Temple — who  must,  from  what  follows, 
have  been  Christ  Himself — presently  informs  him,  that 
two  witnesses  in  Jerusalem,  would  preach  to  the  popula- 
tion for  1260  days,  which,  at  thirty  days  to  a  month 
make  up  the  three  years  and  a  half.  They  would  be 
clad  in  sackcloth,  the  robe  of  mourning  worn  by  prophets 
when  urging  repentance,  and  would  not  proclaim  judg- 
ment, but  would  seek  to  lead  the  people  back  to  Jehovah. 
Who  they  were  is  not  hinted,  nor  is  it  possible  to  say,  for 
Antipas,  who  was  killed  in  Pergamos  as  a  Christian,^  is 
called  by  our  Lord  His  witness,  and  hence  the  name  may 
be  used  here  of  other  '  faithful  ones,"  of  no  special  dis- 
tinction except  their  fidelity  to  their  Master.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  limit  the  number  to  two,  for  in  the  idealisa- 
tion of  a  vision  two  may  have  been  named  as  representives 
of  many  more.  Possibly  John,  full  of  Jewish  beliefs,  may 
have  thought,  with  the  rabbis,  that  before  the  advent  of 
the  Messiah,  Moses  and  Elijah  would  come  to  call  the 
nation  to  repentance ;  this  being  perhaps  impressed  the 
more  deeply  from  the  appearance  of  both  on  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration.  The  belief  in  a  coming  reappearance 
of  Elijah  is,  indeed,  still  fixed  in  the  mind  of  Jew  and 
Moslem.  The  latter  believe  that  Elijah  is  "  the  Immortal 
One,"  who,  in  the  freshness  of  youth,  is  always  appearing, 
though  unrecognised,  to  set  right  the  wrong ;  while  the 
Jews  hold  that  he  had  appeared  again  and  again,  in  the 
garb  of  an  Arabian  merchant,  to  wise  and  holy  rabbis,  in 
their  journeys  and  at  their  prayers.    A  seat  is  still  placed 

^  Rev.  ii.  13. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  305 

for  him  at  the  circumcision  of  Jewish  boys,  and  to  this 
day,  at  the  Passover,  the  Jews  when  they  place  the  Paschal 
Cup  on  the  table,  set  the  door  wide  open,  in  the  belief 
that  at  that  moment  of  the  ceremony  he  will  one  day 
return.^  In  the  Gospels,  indeed,  we  learn  from  Christ's 
disciples  that  some  thought  He  was  John  the  Baptist, 
returned  from  the  dead ;  others,  Elijah  ;  others,  Jeremiah, 
and  others,  one  of  the  prophets ;  ^  supposing  him  not  to 
be  the  very  Messiah,  but  a  witness  for  him,  such  as  they 
expected  before  his  appearance.  But  though  Jewish  belief 
looked  to  such  eminent  saints  of  old  times  as  appointed 
to  herald  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  though  both 
Elijah  and  Moses  appeared  at  the  Transfiguration,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  narrative  of  the  troubles  of  Jerusalem 
which  points  to  any  specially  noted  confessors,  either  of 
the  Jewish  or  Christian  faiths,  as  having  made  their 
appearance. 

In  a  vision  of  Zechariah,  Joshua,  the  high-priest,  and 
Zerubbabel,  the  governor,  are  symbolised  by  two  olive 
trees,  which  are  seen  standing,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
great  seven-branched  golden  candlestick,^  and,  as  such, 
are  named  "  the  two  that  stand  by  the  Lord  of  the 
whole  earth."  In  John's  vision,  he  who  talks  with  him 
now  calls  the  two  witnesses,  "  the  two  olive  trees  and 
the  two  candlesticks,  standing  before  the  Lord  of  the 
earth."  The  very  language  of  Zechariah  is  thus  bor- 
rowed, and  also  the  symbol  he  uses,  with  the  addition  of 
the  witnesses  being  called  "  candlesticks,"  as  the  seven 
churches  have  been,  in  an  earlier  chapter.*  As  Elijah 
destroyed  those  seeking  to  harm  him,  by  consuming  them 


^  Mai.  iv.  5 ;  Matt.  xvii.  10. 

2  Matt.  xvi.  14. 

»  Zech.  iv.  3,  11,  U. 

*  Rev.  i.  20. 

IV. 

U 

306  THE   APOCALYPSE 

by  fire  from  heaven,^  these  "witnesses"  have  power  to 
"devour  their  enemies  by  fire"  launched  against  them 
at  their  word.  Like  Elijah,  also,  they  have  power  to 
shut  the  heavens,  so  that  it  shall  not  rain  during  the 
time  they  "prophesy,"  that  is,  for  three  years  and  a 
half — the  very  time  named  by  our  Lord  and  St.  James, 
as  that  of  the  drought  which  followed  the  words  of  the 
great  prophet.^  Like  Moses,  moreover,  they  have  power 
to  turn  the  waters  into  blood,  and  they  even  go  beyond 
him,  since  they  may  smite  the  earth  with  every  plague, 
as  often  as  they  think  fit.^  During  the  time  of  their 
calling  men  to  repent,  no  one  would  be  suffered  to  hurt 
them,  but  when  their  mission  was  over,  that  awful  emblem 
of  the  Roman  power,  or,  rather,  of  Nero,  reappearing  as 
Antichrist, — "the  beast  that  comes  out  of  the  abyss," ^ 
or,  like  those  in  Daniel,^  out  of  the  sea,^ — which,  in 
Jewish  ideas,  was  an  entrance  to  the  abyss,'' — would  war 
against  them,  and  kill  them.  There  was  thus  to  be  an 
interval  during  which  Christianity  would  be  proclaimed 
in  peace,  but  after  that  brief  calm,  Satan,  acting  through 
Eome,  would  break  out  against  it ;  "  authority,"  we  are 
told,  being  given  this  fell  enemy,  over  "  every  tribe,  and 
people,  and  tongue,  and  nation,"  and  "  to  make  war  with 
the  saints,  and  to  overcome  them,"  for  just  the  time 
during  which  the  witnesses  had  preached — "forty-two 
months."  ^  But  not  only  are  these  witnesses  to  be  killed ; 
the  extreme  indignity  is  to  be  shown  them  of  leaving 
their  bodies  unburied,  on  the  streets  of  Jerusalem — "  the 

^  2  Kings  i.  10  ff.  '1  Kings  xviii.  1  ;  Luke  iv.  25  ;  James  v.  17. 
3  Rev.  xi.  6.  4  j^ev.  ix.  1,  2,  11  ;  xx.  13. 

5  Dan  vii.  3.  ^  Rev.  xiii.  1. 

7  Luke  viii.  31.  «  Rev.  xiii.  5-7. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  307 

great  city,^  where  also  their  Lord  was  crucified."  ^  No 
outrage  could  be  greater,  no  contempt  more  bitter,  in  the 
eyes  of  antiquity.^  It  was  a  religious  duty  among  the 
Greeks,  to  cast  earth  over  a  body  found  unburied,  and  the 
Jews  thought  the  doing  so  especially  meritorious  before 
God.*  Sophocles,  in  his  Ajax,  and  his  Antigone,  glorifies 
the  burial  of  the  dead,  in  the  face  of  all  danger.  Indeed, 
to  abandon  corpses,  even  to  pursue  and  rout  a  defeated 
enemy,  was  a  capital  crime  in  a  naval  commander.  But 
this  insult  was  to  be  shown  the  bodies  of  the  Jerusalem 
martyrs,  for  those  "  from  among  the  peoples,  and  tribes, 
and  tongues,  and  nations,"  present  in  the  city,  "  looked  on 
their  corpses,  and  would  not  suffer  them  to  be  laid  in  a 
tomb."^  John  sees,  as  it  were,  the  state  of  thincrs  be- 
wailed  in  one  of  the  later  Psalms — 

"  O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  Thine  inheritance  ; 
Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled  ; 
They  have  laid  Jeiiisalem  on  heaps. 
The  dead  bodies  of  Thy  servants  have  they  given  to  be  meat  to 

the  fowls  of  the  heaven, 
The  flesh  of  Thy  saints  unto  the  beasts  of  the  earth. 
Their  blood  have  they  shed  like  water  round  about  Jerusalem  ; 
And  there  was  none  to  bury  them."  ^ 

But  this  treatment  of  the  Christians,  and  the  hideous 
demoralisation  of  the  population  generally,  as  faction 
and  wild  passions  of  every  kind,  grew  with  the  progress 
of  anarchy  and  rebellion.  Zealot  and  hired  murderer,  both 
furiously  intent  on  what  they  fancied  the  glory  of  the 
Law,  turned  Jerusalem  into  a  pandemonium  so  terrible, 

^  This  is  a  very  frequent  name  for  Rome  in  the  Apocalypse  (Rev.  xiv.  8  ; 
xvi.  19;  xvii.  18  ;  xviii.  2,  10,  16,  18,  19,  21. 

2  Rev.  xi.  8.  ^  Ps.  Ixxix.  2.  •»  Tobit  xii.  12. 

s  Rev.  xi.  9.  e  Ps.  Ixxix.  1-3. 


308  THE   APOCALYPSE 

now,  as  the  curtain  was  about  to  fall,  that  it  wearied  out 
the  long-suffering  of  God,  and  the  cup  of  their  iniquity 
was,  at  last,  pronounced  to  be  full !  No  wonder  John,  like 
the  prophets,  called  her  Sodom,  for  her  wickedness,  and 
Egypt,  as  the  type  of  hatred  of  the  people  of  God.  Isaiah 
had  thus  denounced  her  long  centuries  before.^  Ezekiel 
had  branded  her  as  Sodom,^  and  Jeremiah  had  declared 
that  her  prophets  aud  people  had  become  to  God,  like  the 
foul  Cities  of  the  Plain.^  Josephus  has  left  us  a  pas- 
sage strikingly  illustrative  of  these  bitter  words,  as  now 
uttered  by  John.*  "  The  rage  of  the  Idumeans,"  says  he, 
"  sent  for  by  the  Zealots,  was  not  slaked  by  widespread 
massacre.  They  now  invaded  every  house,  plundering 
and  murdering.  Tired  at  last  with  killing  the  common 
people,  they  hunted  out  the  two  high-priests,  Ananus  and 
Jesus,  and  having  killed  them,  stood  over  the  dead  bodies, 
jeering  at  them.  They  even  cast  away  dead  bodies  with- 
out burial,  though  the  Jews  usually  are  so  careful  in  this 
matter  that  they  bury  even  crucified  persons  before  the 
sun  sets."  ^  Thus,  like  the  witnesses,  the  supreme  digni- 
taries of  the  Temple,  who,  but  a  brief  time  before,  had 
been  revered,  as  they  stood  clad  in  the  holy  vestments, 
presiding  over  the  worship  of  the  people,  were  now  left 
naked  and  cast  out,  "  a  prey  to  the  dogs  and  wild  beasts" 
— the  yellow  long-muzzled  scavenger-dogs  of  the  town, 
and  the  jackals  that  stole  in,  by  night,  from  the  hills. 

Eejoicing  in  their  triumph  in  the  murder  of  the  two 
witnesses,  John  sees  the  rabble  of  Jerusalem  send  presents 
to  each  other,  in  the  fulness  of  their  hearts,  that  all  might 
be  glad  with   them,^  as   Nehemiah  sent   portions  to  all 

i  Isa.  i.  9,  10.  '^  Ezek.  xvi.  46,  49.  ^  jer.  xxiii.  14. 

4  Kev.  xi.  8.  5  £^ii  Jud.  iv.  5,  2.  «  Rev.  xi.  9. 


JUDGMENT  ON  JUDGMENT  309 

who  had  not  partaken  of  the  feast  at  the  public  reading 
of  the  law,i  or  as  the  Jews  did,  when  they  feasted,  on 
their  victory  over  their  would-be  murderers,  in  Persia.^ 
So  thankful  were  they,  to  be  rid  of  the  keen  words 
and  terrifying  wonders  of  these  confessors !  But  the 
vision  now  showed  a  repetition  of  Ezekiel's  valley  of  dry 
bones,  for  the  corrupt  bodies  of  these  martyrs  were 
quickened,  after  three  days  and  a  half,  by  the  breath  of 
God,  and  "  stood  up  upon  their  feet,"  to  the  great  terror 
of  all.^  Presently,  moreover,  the  newly-raised  men  heard 
a  great  voice  from  heaven,  commanding  them  to  "come 
up  "  to  it,  and  so  they  ascended  to  God,  like  Elijah,*  or 
like  Enoch ;  but  veiled  in  the  glory  of  a  cloud,  like  Jesus, 
when  He  rose  from  Olivet.  A  great  earthquake  followed, 
killing  7000  persons,  but  those  who  escaped  had  been  so 
moved  by  the  preaching  and  death  of  the  witnesses  and 
"affrighted"  at  this  judgment,  that  "they  gave  glory  to 
the  God  of  heaven."  While  the  death  of  a  third  part  of 
their  population  had  brought  no  repentance  on  the  heathen 
world,  Jerusalem  had  been  purified  by  the  troubles  it 
had  experienced,  and  was  once  more  the  city  of  God. 
There  is  no  anticipation  that  it  would  at  this  time  perish. 
It  was  again  the  "  beloved  city."  ^  Its  penitence  had 
been  like  that  of  Nineveh,  and  had  saved  it ;  as  the  re- 
pentance of  the  Assyrian  capital  had  warded  off  from  it 
threatened  wrath. 

The  Church  was,  thus,  to  witness,  for  a  time,  amidst 
the  uproar  and  chaos  of  the  beleagured  Jerusalem ;  the 
few  members  who  had  not  fled,  in  obedience  to  Christ's 
warnings,  when  Vespasian  approached,  no  doubt  bravely 

^  Xeh.  viii.  10-12.  ^  ^sth.  ix.  19,  21.  ^  j^^^,  ^j^  n^ 

4  2  Kii.ijs.  ii.  11.  5    Rev.  xx.  9. 


310  THE  APOCALYPSE 

testifying,  in  the  face  of  the  furious  mob  of  dagger-meu 
and  Zealots  of  all  types,  that  the  true  Messiah  had  already 
come— Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Crucified— and  that  no  other 
Messiah  was  to  be  expected.  But  the  faithfulness  of  its 
testimony  was  to  be  avenged  by  the  sons  of  Belial,  in 
their  death  who  bore  it.  Yet  from  that  death  a  new 
heavenly  life  would  spring,  that  was  to  spread  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  over  all  lands. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   PASSING   BELL   IN   JUD^A 

Glad  to  escape  from  the  "  tribulation "  he  had  shared 
with  his  brethren  in  the  district  of  the  seven  churches, 
John  had  sought  peace  and  retirement  from  the  noise  of 
Ephesus,  and  its  heathen  life,  in  the  quiet  of  Patmos, 
thirteen  hours'  sail,  with  a  fair  wind,  from  the  great  city. 
Here,  in  one  of  the  peaceful  valleys,  with  its  thinly- 
scattered  olive  -  trees,  he  was  as  much  shut  out  from 
the  world  and  alone  with  God,  as  Elijah  had  been  at 
Cherith,  or  John  the  Baptist  in  the  wilderness  of  Judsea, 
or  Jesus  in  the  Quarantania,  during  the  forty  days,  or 
Paul  in  "Arabia."  Preoccupied  by  "the  signs  of  the 
times,"  always  so  dear  a  study  to  the  Jew,^  and  espe- 
cially absorbing  to  the  Christians  of  the  day ;  craving 
as  they  did,  to  know  "  the  signs  of  His  coming  "  whom 
they  hourly  expected,  this  supreme  thought  engrossed  his 
whole  nature.  His  faculties  strained  to  abnormal  eleva- 
tion, he  lived  for  the  time  in  a  world  of  vision ;  the 
providence  of  God  guiding  and  using  this  trance-like 
ecstasy,  to  disclose  to  the  churches,  through  their  favourite 
medium  of  apocalyptic  pictures  and  poetical  creations, 
the  divine  purposes  towards  the  Church  and  the  world. 
Yet,  though  mysterious  scenes  passed  before  his  inward 
sight,  his  eyes,  like  those  of  Balaam,  continued  open  to 

^  Matt.  xvi.  3  ;  xxiv.  24  ;  Luke  xxi.  11  ;  John  iv.  48. 
311 


312  THE   APOCALYPSE 

things  around, and  his  mind  dwelt  tenderly  on  the  distant 
home  of  his  people,  where  the  great  drama  of  prophecy 
was  even  now  being  enacted.  In  spirit  he  stands  on  the 
shore  at  C^esarea,  and  sees  the  Eoman  legions  landing 
from  Egypt  and  the  West :  ^  the  wild  cavalry  forces  of 
the  Parthians  gather  before  him,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Euphrates ;  ^  the  caves  and  rocks  of  the  Palestine 
mountains,  in  which  men  hide  from  the  fury  of  war ;  the 
locusts,  and  frogs,  and  scorpions,  that  infest  the  land  in  the 
hot  months,  are  not  forgotten.^  Pound  his  island,  his 
thoughts  notice  the  heaving  sea,  and  the  passing  ships.* 
Pumours  of  violent  convulsions  reach  him ;  earthquakes 
in  many  places,  and  volcanic  eruptions,  during  which  a  new 
island  rises  from  the  ocean :  and  the  volcanoes  of  Thera, 
sending  out  great  floods  of  fiery  lava,  into  the  waters,  as 
if  the  burning  mountain  itself  were  hurled  into  it;^  the 
fish  dying  from  the  heated  waters  ;  the  ships  wrecked  and 
sunk,  and  even  inland  springs  and  rivers  polluted  by  the 
sulphurous  exhalations  and  impurities.^  The  voice  of 
Christ  speaking  to  him,  seems  like  that  of  the  multitu- 
dinous waters  of  the  ocean,  ever  resounding  close  at  hand. 
But  even  when  Jesus,  through  His  angel,  is  about  to 
show  him  what  must  shortly  come  to  pass,  the  warnings 
and  exhortations  regard  the  present  moment.  The  churches 
must  see  that  there  is  oil  in  their  lamps,  and  that  they 
are  clad  in  the  wedding  garment,  for  "  the  time  is  at 
hand  "  when  their  Lord  "  will  come  in  clouds,  and  every 
eye  shall  see  Him ;  even  they  who  pierced  Him  on  the 
cross.    ^ 

Through  fugitives  from  the  evil  times,  or  travelling 

^  Rev.  xiii.  1.         ^  Eev.  ix.  16.         ^  Rev.  vi.  15  ;  ix.  3,  10  ;  xvi.  14. 
4  Rev.  viil.  10.       ^  j^ev.  viii.  9.         «  Rev.  viii.  7-10.        "^  Rev.  i.  3,  7. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  313 

brethren,  seeking,  as  Jews  habitually  did,  business  or 
work  wherever  they  could  find  it,  John  had  learned  the 
story  of  the  churches  in  Palestine,  in  these  years.  He 
had,  evidently,  been  told  how  the  wild  storms  now  passing 
into  the  great  war,  had  thinned  the  ranks  of  the  Christians. 
The  fury  against  the  brethren  of  Hannas  the  younger,  in 
dS,  when  he  killed  St.  James,  the  brother  of  Christ,  must 
with  him,  have  destroyed  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
hated  sect,  and  have  left  the  survivors  helpless  in  the 
midst  of  a  fanatical  populace  who  mocked  at  their  faith 
in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah. 

But  the  awful  persecution  by  Nero,  which  overwhelmed 
the  Christians  at  Kome  in  64,  made  any  local  sufferings 
in  Judaea  seem  light.  Doubtless,  the  Palestine  churches, 
like  their  brethren  everywhere,  saw,  in  the  massacre  at 
Eome,  "  the  beginning  of  sorrows,"  which  Daniel  had 
taught  them  must  come.  The  words  of  Christ,  moreover, 
seemed  to  mark  the  troubled  times  as  showing  the  signs 
He  had  given  of  the  near  approach  of  His  advent.  The 
days  foretold  by  the  ancient  prophet,  when  "some  of 
understanding  should  stumble,  to  try  them  and  to  purge 
them  from  sin,  and  make  them  white,  for  the  time  of  the 
end,"  1  appeared  to  have  come.  Ungodliness  waxed  great, 
and  love  decayed.  Political  events  destroyed  interest  in 
religious  questions.  Some  even  of  the  quiet  Essenes  were 
moved  by  the  public  commotions,  to  leave  their  peace- 
ful communities,  and  join  the  Zealots  in  their  fighting  for 
the  Law,  and,  as  the  revolution  developed,  many  of  the 
Christians  began  to  follow  their  example. ^  The  proclama- 
tions of  the  supposed  prophets,  moreover,  announcing  the 
imminent  appearance  of  the  Messiah,  drew  the  multitude, 

'  Dan.  xi.  65.  2  j^^.n  j^^^^  jj    3^  ^O. 


314  THE   APOCALYPSE 

now  here,  now  there,  and  enticed  after  them  not  a  few  of 
the  brethren.  All  the  more,  those  still  faithful  clung  to 
the  warnings  of  Christ/  how  to  act  in  these  last  times. 
They  remembered  that  they  were  cautioned  to  give  no 
ear  to  these  self-styled  prophets,  or  their  signs  and 
wonders.^  His  coming  was  not  to  be  secret  like  that 
of  their  promised  Christs,  but  would  shine  like  the  light- 
ning, from  east  to  west.  They  had  seen  all  the  insurrec- 
tionary dreams  end  in  blood,  instead  of  signs  and  wonders 
from  heaven.  But  Christ's  earnest  dehortations  imply 
that  too  many  weakly  listened  to  such  agitators,  and  set 
out,  with  wife  and  children,  to  the  wilderness,  or  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  or  to  the  Jordan,  in  the  hope  of  seeing 
the  promised  signs  of  the  Son  of  Man,  but  only  to  be  speared 
or  trampled  down  by  the  Eoman  cavalry.  They  had  been 
foretold  that  they  would  have  to  suffer  persecutions  from 
their  fellow- Jew^s,  and  they  had  suffered  them.  As  Christ 
said,  they  had  been  delivered  up  to  Sanhedrims,  and  they 
had  been  beaten  in  synagogues,  and  had  stood  before 
governors  and  kings,  for  their  Master's  sake.^  They  had 
endured  much  from  such  fanatical  enemies  as  Paul,  before 
his  conversion,  and  the  procurators,  and  high-priests  like 
the  younger  Hannas,  and  Ananias  the  son  of  Nebedai, 
strove  to  crush  a  sect  which  was  universally  hated.^  The 
lofty  enthusiasm  of  many  humble  confessors,  when  be- 
fore their  judges,  had,  however,  inspired  their  brethren 
with  a  stronger  faith  than  ever;  for  it  seemed  as 
if,  in  very  deed,  Christ's  words  had  been  fulfilled  in 
them,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  put  words  in  their 
mouths  in  their  hour  of  trial.     But  if  the  fiery  ordeal 

^  Matt,  xxiv.,  &c.  2  j^att.  xxiv.  5,  24  flf.  ^  Matt.  xiii.  9  &. 

^  Matt.  X.  22  ;  Mark  xiii.  13  ;  Luke  xxi.  17. 


THE   PASSING  BELL  IN  JVBJEA  315 

made  heroes,  it  also  made  traitors.  There  were,  doubtless, 
confessors,  in  these  last  days  of  Jerusalem,  who  might  be 
fittingly  painted  by  John  as  witnesses,  preaching  in  sack- 
cloth, but  finally  killed,  like  their  Master,  for  their  re- 
proachful fidelity,  and  dishonoured  even  after  death ;  but 
immortal  in  their  work,  on  earth,  and,  in  their  spirits,  in 
heaven.  Yet  the  worst  foes  of  the  little  Christian  com- 
munity, as  our  Saviour  tells  us,  were  those  of  their  own 
households.^  The  agony  of  the  times ;  the  strained  excite- 
ment, and  even  their  very  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God  and 
His  law,  warped  by  the  spirit  around  them,  had  made 
many  "  stumble,"  and  many  others  betray  and  hate  their 
brethren ;  the  love  to  Christ  and  to  each  other,  of  •'  the 
many,"  or  as  we  say,  the  larger  number,  "  waxing  cold,"  as 
iniquity  thus  multiplied  within  the  fold  as  well  as  outside 
of  it.2  Still  worse,  the  rift  that  had  divided  the  nation, 
divided  also  its  families.  In  many  which  were  partly 
Christian,  they  began  to  hate  each  other :  the  converts  to 
the  Nazarene  becoming  fancied  traitors ;  especially  in  the 
eyes  of  heated  fanaticism,  which  looked  to  the  pretended 
prophets,  who  promised  the  immediate  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  to  win  a  world- triumph  for  Israel  with  the 
sword.  Brother  delivered  up  brother  to  death,  and  the 
father  his  child;  children  rose  up  against  parents,  and 
brought  about  their  imprisonment,  or  scourging,  or  death, 
and  at  the  sight  of  such  internal  strife  the  Christians 
became  hated  by  all  men.^  The  general  demoralisation 
of  society,  moreover,  naturally  increased  as  order  perished, 
till,  at  last,  any  friends  of  peace,  the  brethren  among 
others,  were  hunted  down  by  the  Irreconcilables,  and 
killed,  wherever  found. 

1  Matt.  X.  36.  2  jyjatt.  xxiv.  12.  ^  i^^tt.  x.  21. 


316  THE  APOCALYPSE 

The  confident  belief,  however,  that  Jesus  would  assur^ 
edly  appear,  now  that  matters  were  thus  so  fearful,  kept 
the  best  of  the  Christians  together.  But  when  Menahem 
the  son  of  Judas  the  Gaulonite,  Eleazar  the  son  of  Simon 
ben  Giora,  and  John  of  Gischala,  established  themselves 
in  the  Temple,  in  robes  imitating  those  assigned  by 
Christians  to  the  Messiah  ;  when  one  Messiah  murdered 
the  other ;  when  tlie  Temple  had  literally  become  a  den 
of  robbers,  and  the  warlike  engines  which  Cestius  had 
removed,  were  set  up  again  in  the  holy  grounds,  and 
when  the  shots  fired  from  them  by  Eleazar  and  Simon, 
were  carrying  death  into  the  crowded  streets,  the  Chris- 
tians resolved  to  flee  from  the  city,  as  directed,  in  such 
circumstances,  by  the  words  of  Christ  Himself.  These 
words,  indeed,  it  was  believed,  had  been  repeated  to  the 
chief  brethren  by  an  angel,  who  commanded  them  to  flee 
to  Pella,  a  little  town,  east  of  the  Jordan,  but  not  far 
from  it, — the  most  northerly  of  the  "  ten  (allied)  towns  " 
or  "Decapolis,"  as  one  of  which  it  was,  or  had  been  a 
"free  city."  i  It  lay  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  overlooking 
a  well-watered  ravine,  and  had  originally  been  a  Mace- 
donian colony,  which  would  naturally  make  it  a  quiet 
retreat  from  Jewish  fanaticism.  The  band  of  Alexander's 
veterans  who  had  founded  it  had  given  it  its  name, 
but  it  had  passed  through  varying  fortune,  having  been 
taken  by  the  Jews  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
the  flight  of  the  Christians  to  it,  and  having  suffered 
much  from  their  bigoted  masters.  It  had  since  become 
nominally  Syrian,  but  had  been  assailed  by  the  Zealots 
at  the  opening  of  the  great  insurrection,  in  the  year  66. 
Vespasian  had,  however,  driven  out  these  revolutionaries, 

^  Euseb.  "Church  Hist."  iii,  5. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD.EA  317 

and  quieted  all  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  so  that 
the  refugees  from  the  churches  of  Jerusalem  and  Judaea 
had  nothing  to  fear  after  reaching  it. 

The  profanation  of  the  Temple  by  the  Zealots  had 
already  driven  away  many  of  the  Jews  themselves  from 
Jerusalem;  such  outrages  on  its  sanctity  appearing  to 
them  the  "  abomination  of  desolation  "  of  Daniel,  which 
was  believed  to  foreshadow  the  approaching  fall  of  both 
Temple  and  city.^  Jesus  Himself,  in  accordance  with  the 
same  prophecy,  had  told  His  followers  that  when  they 
saw  this  "  abomination,"  standing  in  the  holy  place,  those 
who  were  in  Judaea  were  to  flee  to  the  mountains,  and  he 
who  was  on  the  flat  roof  of  his  house  was  not  to  come  down, 
to  take  anything  out  of  his  house,  but  was  to  flee  along 
the  flat  roofs  of  the  other  houses,  till  he  got  outside  the 
walls ;  while  the  labourer  in  the  field  was  not  to  run  home 
for  his  abba,  but  was  to  be  glad  to  escape  even  without 
his  coat.2  Yet,  as  we  see  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  least  two 
witnesses  for  the  Master  remained  in  the  city ;  thinking, 
perhaps,  that  He  would  appear  first  in  Jerusalem,  while 
those  who  fled  may  have  assumed  that  His  return  would 
be  everywhere  visible,  since  He  had  compared  it  to  the 
lightning,  which  comes  forth  from  the  East  and  is  seen 
even  to  the  West.^ 

The  position  of  the  Jerusalem  Christians  must,  indeed, 
have  been  terrible.  What  agony  is  implied  in  the  words 
of  Christ,  "  Woe  to  them  that  are  with  child,  and  to  them 
that  give  suck  in  those  days ! "  And,  "  pray  that  your 
flight  be  not  in  winter,  or  on  a  Sabbath,"  when  you  can 
only  travel  2000  steps  from  the  city  wall.*     No  wonder 

Bell.  Jud.  iv.  6.  3  ;   Vita,  ix.  4.  ^  j^j^tt.  xxiv.  15-18. 

■  Matt.  xxiv.  27.  *  Matt.  xxiv.  19,  20. 


318  THE   APOCALYPSE 

He  adds  that,  unless  these  days  had  been  shortened,  for 
the  sake  of  the  elect,  no  flesh  would  have  been  saved.^ 
Many,  no  doubt,  in  spite  of  our  Lord's  warning,  would 
have  to  flee  on  a  Sabbath,  when  flight  meant  exposure 
to  sore  punishment  for  violation  of  the  holy  day,  as  well 
as  to  deep  self-reproach.  Winter,  the  rainy  season,  would 
bar  their  way  by  its  wild  swollen  torrents,  and  would 
drench  them  with  storms,  from  which,  as  fugitives  hated 
by  all,  they  could  find  no  shelter;  a  sore  extreme  of 
misery  and  peril  which  John  describes  in  highly-wrought 
metaphors,  pointing  to  tempests  and  floods  as  often  fatal 
to  those  fleeing  in  these  evil  times.^  Josephus  paints 
a  scene  that  must  often  have  been  repeated,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  in  the  experience  of  the  Christians.  The  fugitives 
from  a  village  east  of  Jordan,  he  tells  us,  thought  to  reach 
Jericho,  but  the  Eoman  cavalry  drove  them  to  the  edge  of 
the  Jordan,  then  swollen  and  unfordable,  so  that  they 
could  not  cross,  and  were,  in  part,  cut  down ;  in  part,  forced 
into  the  water  and  drowned.^  But  danger  was  not  over 
when  the  Christians  had  crossed  the  Jordan,  as  the  rage 
of  the  non-Jewish  population  burnt  fiercely  against  all 
Jews ;  for  the  outrages  of  the  Zealots  had  wasted  the  east 
of  Jordan  with  fire  and  sword.  Yet,  when  Pella  was  at 
last  reached,  the  brethren  had  to  praise  God  for  leading 
them  to  a  peaceful  refuge.  On  the  high-road  to  Damas- 
cus, pleasantly  situated  on  the  edge  of  a  healthy  table- 
land, hidden  among  hills,  among  murmuring  streams 
and  groves  of  olives,  they  could  peacefully  await  in  it  the 
Advent  they  presently  expected.*  Christ  was  to  come 
"  immediately  after  the  tribulations  of  those  days,"  which 

1  Matt.  xxiv.  22.  ^  j^^v.  xii.  15.  ^  ^^n  j^^^  jy,  7^  5, 

4  Matt.  xxiv.  29-31. 


THE   PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD.EA  319 

they  fancied  must  be  those  through  which  they  werd 
passing.  Had  He  not  said  that  "this  generation  shall 
not  pass  away,  till  all  these  things  be  accomplished  "  ?  ^ 
Had  He  not  also  said  to  the  apostles,  that  they  should  not 
"have  gone  through  the  cities  of  Israel,  till  the  Son  of 
Man  be  come  "  ?  But  too  many  had  grown  weary  at  the 
delay,  and  had  fallen  back  into  their  old  life,  like  the 
servant  whose  absent  Lord  delayed  his  coming,  and  who 
therefore  began  to  smite  his  fellow-servants,  and  to  eat 
and  drink  with  the  drunken.^  Yet,  to  the  faithful,  every- 
thing seemed  to  point  to  the  almost  immediate  descent  of 
their  glorified  Lord  from  the  heavens,  amidst  His  hosts 
of  angels,  to  reward  His  saints,  and  to  pour  out  wrath 
on  His  foes.  The  rumours  of  the  impending  restoration 
of  the  awful  N'ero,  the  earthquakes  and  other  alarming 
signs  in  nature,  and  even  the  mystical  import  of  prophetic 
numbers,  appeared  to  show  that  He  was  "  at  the  door." 

Meanwhile,  John,  in  his  seagirt  chamber  of  medita- 
tion ;  alone  with  God  and  his  own  soul ;  pondering  over 
the  hallowed  rolls  of  ancient  Scripture,  and  recalling  all 
the  story  of  redemption,  from  the  Incarnation  at  Beth- 
lehem till  now;  lived,  for  the  time,  abidingly  "in  the 
Spirit;"  withdrawn  from  sublunary  things,  and  favoured 
by  ever-changing  revelations  of  the  nearly-closed  drama 
of  the  last  days,  disclosed,  from  above,  in  mystic  imagery, 
vague  and  sublime,  such  as  he  and  his  nation  loved. 
How  often,  from  the  top  of  the  westward  sloping  rido-e, 
must  he  have  seen,  far  below,  in  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun,  when  calm  rested  on  all  nature,  a  sea  of  o-lass 
mingled  with  fire,  stretching  away,  inimitably,  to  the 
fading   light!      How   often,    when   darkness   veiled   the 

^  Matt.  xxiv.  34  ;  Mark  xiii.  30  ;  Luke  xxi.  32.      ^  Matt.  xxiv.  28,  29. 


320  THE   APOCALYPSE 

landscape,  and  drew  aside  the  curtain  from  eternity, 
must  the  heavens  have  opened  to  him,  till  the  very  throne 
of  God  and  the  Lamb,  seemed  to  shine  down  on  him, 
with  the  innumerable  hosts  of  angels,  and  the  general 
assembly  and  Church  of  the  first-born,  and  the  spirits  of 
just  men  made  perfect,  worshipping  before  it !  Till  now, 
the  opening  of  the  sealed  book  by  the  Lamb,  had  disclosed 
the  story  of  the  Church  from  the  time  when  Christ  had 
ascended  to  the  Father ;  the  white  horse  with  its  crowned 
rider,  going  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer,  appearing, 
in  one  aspect,  to  bring  before  him  the  victories  of  the 
Cross;  in  another,  the  fierce  wars  which  threatened  the 
eastern  world.  Other  emblems  of  wars,  famines,  and  pes- 
tilence had  followed,  and  then  the  imagery  of  new  steps 
in  the  ways  of  God  had  risen  before  him.  The  cry  of 
the  martyrs  under  the  altar  had,  already,  been  terribly 
answered,  in  wars  and  convulsions  of  the  earth ;  for  since 
the  year  60,  Palestine  had  been  shaken  to  its  foundations 
by  subterranean  forces,  Laodicea  and  Colosse  overthrown, 
and  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  shattered,  though  presently 
rebuilt ;  only,  however,  to  be  buried  finally,  a  little  later, 
in  the  year  79,  in  the  outburst  of  Vesuvius.  The  skies 
had  been  lighted  up  by  falling  stars :  the  raging  of  the 
sea,  the  frequency  of  fatal  lightning  storms,  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  comet,  had  alarmed  the  nations,  and  roused 
Nero  to  pacify  the  gods,  at  each  omen,  by  floods  of 
illustrious  blood.^  The  Jewish  war,  which  was,  with 
John,  the  beginning  of  the  end,  had  at  last  broken  out. 
The  predictions  of  our  Lord  as  to  the  last  days  were 
being  fulfilled.  The  servants  of  God  had  been  sealed,  to 
keep  them  faithful,  and  to  protect  them.     The  earth  had 

1  Tac.  Ann.  xiv.  27  ;  xv.  22,  47  ;  IlUt.  i.  3,  18. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  321 

been  wasted  by  the  terrible  judgments  following  the 
sounding  of  six  of  the  seven  trumpets  of  the  angels  who 
stand  before  God,  but  they  had  not  moved  the  heathen  to 
repentance.  And  they  had,  at  last,  exhausted  the  long- 
suffering  of  God.  A  mighty  angel  standing  on  earth  and 
sea,  had  lifted  up  his  hand  and  sworn  by  Him  that  liveth 
for  ever  and  ever,  that  there  would  be  no  longer  delay  in 
the  final  judgment  of  His  enemies.     The  end  was  at  hand. 

But  first  there  had  been  a  brief  respite.  Jerusalem 
had  been  offered  repentance.  The  two  witnesses  had 
borne  their  testimony  to  Christ  as  the  Messiah,  amidst 
the  terrors  of  the  time  when  the  city  had  been  given 
over  to  the  heathen,  and  only  the  Temple  building  itself 
and  the  courts  of  the  worshippers  remained  under  divine 
protection.  The  faithful  confessors  had  been  murdered 
during  the  three  years  and  a  half  of  this  triumph  of  the 
servants  of  idols,  but  had  been  raised  from  the  dead  and 
taken  up  to  heaven.  Jerusalem  had  been  shaken  by  an 
earthquake  and  had  repented,  turning  penitently  to  God 
and  giving  Him  glory,  and,  thus,  while  the  heathen  world 
was  hopelessly  doomed  for  refusing  to  do  this,  Jerusalem 
was  once  more  the  chosen  of  Heaven,  the  beloved  city. 
Such  were  John's  anticipations,  now,  towards  the  close 
of  the  great  siege. 

I  have  recapitulated  these  visions  to  keep  the  develop- 
ment of  the  scheme  of  the  whole  more  easily  in  view. 
The  thunders  of  God's  wrath,  from  first  to  last,  are  painted 
as  the  echoes  of  the  cry  of  the  martyrs.  The  seven 
churches  had  a  mighty  Avenger  in  Jehovah  ! 

The  seventh  and  last  angel  now  sounded,^  but  instead 
of  additional  judgments  on  the  heathen,  John  hears  forth- 

^  Rev,  xi.  15. 
IV.  X 


322  THE    APOCALYPSE 

with,  great  voices  in  heaven  celebrating  the  triumph  of 
the  Cross,  and  proclaiming  that  "The  kingdom  of  the 
world  "  "  is  become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  of  His 
Christ :  and  He  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever."  The 
thought  of  such  a  glorious  consummation,  announced  by  the 
authority  of  the  Eternal  Himself,  at  once  stirs  the  twenty- 
four  elders,  the  representatives  of  redeemed  humanity  as 
a  whole,  to  lowly  adoration.  Falling  on  their  faces,  they 
worship  God  in  a  grateful  chant  of  thanksgiving  and 
praise.  "  We  give  Thee  thanks,"  ^  they  cry,  "  0  Lord  God, 
the  Almighty,  who  art  and  who  wast" — they  do  not  add, 
"  and  who  art  to  come,"  because  He  had,  in  effect,  already 
come; — "  because  Thou  hast  taken  Thy  great  power,  and 
didst  reign.  And  the  nations," — the  heathen,  "were 
wroth,2  and  Thy  wrath  came,  and  the  time  of  the  dead 
(martyrs  and  confessors)  to  be  judged  (by  being  avenged 
on  their  adversaries),  and  the  time  to  give  their  reward  to 
Thy  servants  the  prophets,  and  to  the  saints  (the  apostles, 
teachers,  and  brethren,) — and  to  them  that  fear  Thy  name, 
both  small  and  great ;  and  to  destroy  them  that  destroy 
the  earth  (by  their  wickedness)."  So  intimately  is  the 
whole  book  a  record  of  the  divine  judgments  to  be  poured 
out  on  the  persecutor,  and  of  the  rewards  to  be  bestowed 
on  the  faithful.  The  Apocalypse  is,  indeed,  in  great  part, 
the  fulfilling  of  the  cry  from  under  the  throne. 

As  they  thus  adored,  the  vision  widened,  for  the  temple 
of  God  that  is  in  heaven  was  opened,  and  the  Ark  of  God's 
Covenant,  lost  since  the  destruction  of  Solomon's  Temple 
by  the  Chaldeans,  was  seen — the  pledge  of  the  renewed 
and  eternal  union  of  God  with  His  people.  Israel,  now 
penitent,  was  once  more  in  God's  favour,  but  the  im- 

^  Rev.  xi.  17.  2  i5g^  11  I  .  xivi.  6. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  323 

penitent  heathen  were  to  be  finally  destroyed.  This 
renewal  of  the  covenant  was  accompanied,  as  the  first 
establishment  of  it  at  Sinai  had  been,^  by  lightnings,  and 
voices,  and  thunders,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great  hail. 
The  old  economy,  in  all  its  details,  was  so  sacred  to  John 
that  he  transfers  it  and  them  even  to  the  heavens. 

But  the  final  judgments  on  the  world  were  not  to 
fall  on  it  for  yet  a  while.  A  new  development  of  the 
visions  would  first  be  seen.  A  "  great  sign  "  reveals  itself 
in  heaven.  A  woman,  the  symbol,  at  first  of  the  Virgin- 
Mother  of  our  Lord ;  then  of  the  Jewish,  and  finally  of 
the  Christian  Church,  was  seen  standing  in  the  hollow 
of  the  silver  sickle  of  the  moon,  clothed  with  light,  and 
wearing  a  crown  set  with  twelve  stars,  emblematic  of  the 
twelve  tribes.  She  is  about  to  bear  a  child,  but  there  is 
danger  near,  for  both  her  and  her  offspring.  In  all  ages, 
the  imagination  has  created  its  conceptions  of  monsters, 
from  the  most  dreaded  types  of  actual  animal  life,  past 
or  present.  The  crocodile,  the  huge  lizard,  the  serpent, 
and  the  great  creatures  of  the  sea,  are  transformed  by 
it  into  beings  of  gigantic  size,  deadly  powers,  and  hideous 
aspect ;  the  leviathan  of  the  Hebrews,  the  dragon  of  the 
early  dwellers  in  the  Euphrates  valley,  and  the  dragons 
of  the  ancient  and  modern  Western  world.  Ethiopia  and 
India  seem  to  have  been  credited  as  the  special  birth- 
place of  these  fabulous  beings ;  the  least-known  lands 
being  naturally  chosen  for  this  honour.  Their  length, 
in  profane  writings,  varies  from  a  hundred  feet  to  eight 
miles,  which,  it  is  said,  was  that  of  one  known  to  the 
Arabs.  Sometimes  they  have  wings,  feet,  and  a  mane; 
sometimes  they  are  less  highly  endowed  ;  great  jaws,  and 

^  Exod.  xix.  18;  Deut.  iv.  11,  13. 


324  THE  APOCALYPSE 

a  beard  being  however  occasionally  assigned  them.  They 
vary  in  colour;  being  fiery  red,  yellow,  black,  or  ashen 
grey.  Some  are  poisonous ;  they  guard  treasures  in  some 
cases,  and  at  times  have  crowns  on  their  head,  but  their 
dwelling-places  are  not  suited  to  much  display,  being  the 
depths  of  springs,  deserts,  and  caves. 

In  the  Chaldean  mythology,  the  legends  and  myths 
of  which  were  familiar  to  the  Hebrews  from  the  earliest 
times,  as  originally  from  Mesopotamia,  a  gigantic  im- 
personation of  Chaos  and  Darkness  figures  largely ;  Tiamat, 
which  is  associated,  in  the  "  Creation  Tablets,"  with  other 
mythical  conceptions,  poetically  described  as  "  the  great 
serpent,"  "  the  great  reptile,"  "  the  deadly  beast,"  "  the 
scorpion  man,"  &c.,  and,  as  their  leader  and  king,  makes 
war  against  heaven.  Merodach,  the  seer  of  the  gods, 
undertakes,  however,  to  "bind  Tiamat,"^  and  for  this  end 
"  made  ready  his  bow,  girt  on  his  curved  sword,  hung  his 
quiver  at  his  side,  and  set  the  lightning  before  him,  filling 
his  body  with  its  brightness."  He  also  made  a  net  to 
enclose  the  dragon  of  the  abyss;  seized  the  four  winds 
that  they  might  not  issue  forth,^  and  created  three  other 
winds — the  evil,  the  storm,  and  the  tempest  winds,  and 
let  them  loose  on  Tiamat,  and  then  drove  after  him  in 
his  chariot,  while  Bel  raised  the  deluge  to  aid  him — "  his 
mighty  weapon,  unsparing,  overflowing,  rapid."  Tiamat 
and  Merodach  meet  in  battle  ^  and  Merodach  overcomes 
"her  and  her  host,"  binds  Tiamat,  throws  his  net  over 
her  allies,  and  binds  and  puts  in  prison  the  marshal  of 
Tiamat's  armies,  with  the  other  gods  serving  her.  Then 
Bel  smites  the  skull  of  Tiamat,  and  breaks  her  in  two, 

1  See  Rev.  xx.  2.  ^  g^^  ^^^^  ^.^  j, 

^  See  Rev.  xii.  7. 


THE   PASSING   BELL  IN  JUDAEA  325 

and  of  one  half  of  her  makes  the  covering  of  the  sky.^ 
The  Sun-god  has  triumphed  over  the  powers  of  darkness. 

The  Apocryphal  book,  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  which 
shows  the  current  notions  of  New  Testament  times  on 
such  matters,  tells  us  how  Daniel  killed  the  great  dragon, 
or  serpent,  worshipped  in  Babylon ;  for  such  legends,  like 
the  Scriptural  narrative  of  the  Fall,  had  very  early  trans- 
ferred to  Satan  the  name  of  The  Serpent. 

Such  ideas  being  everywhere  familiar,  we  can  readily 
understand  how  John,  filled  with  an  awful  realisation 
of  the  deadly  hatred  of  Satan,  and  through  him,  of  the 
Eoman  world  to  Christ — should  embody  this  horror 
in  the  image  of  "  a  great  red  dragon,"  in  heaven ; 
in  keeping  with  the  language  of  Job,  which  represents 
Satan  as  coming  into  the  presence  of  God,^  and  with 
that  of  our  Lord,  when  He  tells  the  Seventy  that 
He  "beheld  Satan,  as  lightning,  fall  from  heaven."^ 
The  red  colour  of  this  monster,  usual  in  the  myths  of 
dragons,  may  hint  either  at  bis  murderous  fury,  or  at 
the  imperial  purple.  Daniel  had  seen  such  hideous 
chimeras  in  his  visions ;  one  of  which  had  ten  horns, 
like  that  of  John ;  but  while  another  had  four  heads, 
that  of  John  has  seven.*  The  conception,  therefore, 
though  anticipated,  is  varied  to  meet  the  prophetic  posi- 
tion ;  the  ten  horns  now  representing,  perhaps,  the  ten 
proconsuls  of  the  ten  chief  provinces  of  the  empire — who 
were  princes,  in  reality,  while  the  seven  heads  are 
symbols,  the  Cassars,  up  to  Nero — Julius  Caesar,  Augus- 
tus, Tiberius,  Caligula,  Claudius,  Nero,  and  Galba.     Or 

1  Sayce's  "Higher  Criticism,"  62-72. 

2  Job  i.  7.  ^  Luke  x.  18  ;  John  xii.  31  ;  xvi.  11. 

*  Dan.  vii.  6,  7  ;  Rev.  xii.  3. 


326  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  ten  horns  possibly  indicate  the  ten  actual  or 
nominal  emperors,  by  adding,  after  Galba,  the  names  of 
Otho,  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  and  Titus ;  these  ten  being 
represented  by  seven  crowned  heads  ;  Galba,  Otho,  and 
Vitellius  having  failed  to  gain  a  firm  seat  on  the  throne, 
and  thus  being  only  as  it  were  phantom  rulers.  But 
this  second  reading  seems  less  simple  than  the  first,  and 
brings  the  series  too  far  down  from  the  period  implied 
in  the  vision.  Like  Tiamat,  the  awful  spectre  is  of 
enormous  size  ;  so  huge  that,  as  his  long  serpent-like 
tail  lashed  about  in  the  heavens,  it  hurled  the  third 
part  of  the  stars  from  their  orbits  and  cast  them  to  the 
earth  ;  reminding  us  of  the  goat  in  Daniel's  vision  which 
"  waxed  great  against  the  host  of  heaven,  and  cast  down 
some  of  them,  and  of  the  stars,  to  the  ground,  and 
stamped  on  them."  ^  His  fury  was  presently,  however, 
concentrated  on  the  woman  and  her  child — a  son,  whom 
we  see  to  be  the  Messiah,  from  the  application  to  Him  of 
the  words  used  of  God's  anointed,  in  the  Psalms — as 
destined  to  "  rule  the  (heathen)  nations  with  a  rod  of 
iron."  2  To  devour  this  child — that  is,  to  stamp  out 
Christianity — was  the  monster's  supreme  wish,  but  the 
child  was  "  caught  up  to  God,"  out  of  his  reach,  "  and 
to  God's  throne."  ^  The  brethren  need  not  fear.  The 
heathen  kings  and  rulers  of  the  earth,  and  their  people, 
had  imagined  a  vain  thing,  in  takincr  counsel  against 
the  Lord  and  against  His  Anointed.  He  that  sits  in 
the  heavens  shall  laugh  :  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in 
derision !  * 

The  figure  is  now  changed  to  introduce  the  three  great 
enemies  of  Christianity,  specially  dreaded  in  those  times. ^ 

1  Dan.  viii.  10.     ^  pg.  ji.  9.     3  j^ev.  xii.  5.      ^  Ps.  ii.  2-4.     ^  Rev.  xii.  6. 


THE   PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  327 

The  woman  stands,  henceforth,  for  the  fugitive  brethren 
at  Pella,  for  "  the  woman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  where 
she  had  a  place  prepared  of  God."  There  she  would  be 
kept  safe  through  the  three  years  and  a  half  which  must 
pass  before  the  catastrophe  of  the  world  arrived.  But 
heaven  itself  was  about  to  come  directly,  to  the  defence 
of  the  faith.  Michael,  "  one  of  the  chief  princes "  of 
heaven/  the  guardian  angel  and  champion  of  Israel,^ 
whom  Jewish  legend  had  represented  as  contending  with 
the  devil,  ages  before,  about  the  body  of  Moses,^  now 
appears  with  his  hosts ;  warring  in  heaven  against  the 
first  and  most  terrible  of  the  enemies  of  the  infant  Church 
— the  dragon  and  his  angels ;  as  Merodach,  the  Sun-god, 
fought  and  overcame  Tiamat  and  her  associated  powers 
of  darkness,  in  the  Chaldean  myth.  Battle  raged  in  the 
skies,  but  "  the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old 
serpent,  called  the  devil  and  Satan,  who  deceives  the 
whole  world,  and  he  was  hurled  down  to  the  earth,  and  his 
angels  with  him."*  Strange  as  it  seems  to  us,  Satan 
and  his  legions,  were,  in  John's  day,  supposed  free  to 
enter  the  heavenly  regions.  Henceforth,  however,  neither 
he  nor  they  would  be  permitted  to  approach  God,  as 
accusers  of  the  brethren,  any  longer,  as  they  had  done 
till  now,^  for  his  "  place "  and  that  of  his  angels  is  not 
"  found  any  more  in  heaven."  ^  The  persecutions  of  the 
past  had  been  Satan's  work,  but  now,  he  was  at  least  kept 
from  assailing  them  before  God,  and,  at  the  worst,  "  his 
time  was  short."  ^  But,  "  woe  for  the  earth  ! "  for  his 
wrath  was  the  more  fierce  from  his  defeat  by  Michael,  and 
by  his  knowing  that  the  Messiah  was  near,  to  chain  and 

1  Dan.  X.  13,  21  ;  xii.  1.        ^  Dan.  xii.  1.        ^  Jude  9.      -*  Luke  x.  18. 
^  Job  i..  ii.  ;  1  Kings  xxii.  21,  22.        «  Rev.  xii.  10.  ^  Rev.  xii.  12. 


328  THE  APOCALYPSE 

shut  him  up.  Meanwhile,  John  hears  the  heavens  re- 
joicing at  his  expulsion.  "  The  salvation,  and  the  power, 
and  the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  authority  of  His 
Christ,  are  come ;  since  Satan  is  gone  !  "  The  redeemed 
who  thus  chanted  the  praises  of  God,  had,  they  added, 
overcome  Satan  here  on  earth,  in  spite  of  his  accusations 
above  and  persecutions  below ;  the  blood  of  the  Lamb 
having  given  them  the  victory ;  that  blood,  the  atoning 
worth  of  which  they  had  confessed ;  faithfully  witnessing 
for  their  faith  even  by  enduring  martyrdom  for  it.^ 

But  if  the  saints  in  heaven  were  freed  from  all  future 
alarm,  those  on  earth  were  doomed  to  suffer  grievously 
from  the  malignity  of  the  dragon.  To  destroy  the  Church, 
symbolised  by  the  woman,  was  now  his  great  aim,  but 
He  who  had  of  old  borne  His  people  as  on  eagle's  wings 
from  the  perils  of  Egypt  ^  now  gave  the  persecuted 
woman  the  aid  of  the  wings  of  "  the  great  eagle  " — pos- 
sibly that  which  before  had  flown  through  the  midst  of 
heaven^ — to  bear  her  away  safely  into  the  place  in  the 
wilderness — that  is,  to  Pella — where  she  would  be  kept 
from  harm  to  the  near  approaching  end.  The  three  years 
and  a  half  are  in  this  case  expressed,*  in  accordance  with 
the  old  Hebrew  form  used  in  Daniel,  as  "  a  time,  times,  and 
half  a  time  "  ^ — or  half  the  predicted  period  of  the  desecra- 
tion of  Jerusalem  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  which  was  to 
be  2300  days,  that  is,  seven  Jewish  years  ;^  and  this  half, 
or  three  and  a  half  years,  we  further  know,  from  an 
earlier  verse,'^  was  to  be  the  duration  of  the  "woman's" 
hiding  safely  at  Pella. 

But  the  dragon,  that  is,  Satan,  the  Old  Serpent,  would 

^  Rev.  xii.  10-12.       2  Exod.  xix.  4.       ^  j^gy^  ^m  13,      4  j^ev.  xii.  14. 
^  Dan.  vii.  25  ;  xii.  7.  ^  Dan.  viii.  14.  ^  Rev.  xii.  6. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  329 

not  let  her  escape  without  a  last  outburst  of  malignity. 
As  the  invasion  of  Judah  is  compared  by  Isaiah  to  the 
inrush  of  a  flood,^  and  as  God  is  said  by  Hosea,^  to  be 
about  to  pour  out  His  wrath  against  the  princes  of  Judah 
like  water,  the  dragon  is  seen,  in  the  vision  of  John,  to 
cast  out  from  his  mouth,  a  flood  like  a  river;  to  sweep 
her  away  if  possible.  But  the  earth,  which  opened  to 
swallow  up  Korah  and  his  company,^  opens  now  to  swallow 
up  this  rushing  stream ;  in  other  words,  the  fugitives  at 
Pella  would  be  protected  from  their  enemies.  Whether 
any  particular  incident  in  their  story  is  thus  metaphori- 
cally pictured,  cannot  now  be  known ;  but,  very  probably, 
it  refers  to  the  perils  of  their  flight  from  Jerusalem.  The 
dragon  of  Hebrew  poetry,  by  the  way,  was  supposed  to 
be  a  water-monster  "lying  in  the  midst  of  the  Mle 
canals,"  or  "  as  a  whale  in  the  seas,"  so  that  John's  intro- 
duction of  a  flood  caused  by  the  Evil  One,  as  an  emblem  of 
his  hostility  to  the  Church,  was  natural  to  him  as  a  Jew.* 
Satan's  hate  of  the  new  faith  was  still,  however,  un- 
appeased,  so  that  he  "  went  away  to  make  war  with  the 
remnant  of  her  seed,"  still  in  Jerusalem ;  as  Paul  calls  it ; 
"the  mother  of  us  all,"^  and  with  the  brethren  every- 
where, who  "kept  the  commandments  of  God,  and  held 
the  testimony  of  Jesus."  ^ 

But  the  second  arch-enemy  now  rises  in  the  vision. 

The  dragon  had  taken  his  position  on  the  white  sands 
near  CaBsarea,  the  Eoman  capital  and  port  of  Palestine, 
and  waits  there  for  the  arrival  of  the  legions  from  the 
west;  his  instrument  in  the  unholy  war  he  is  exciting 
against  "  the  saints ; "  including  in  these  the  people  of  the 

1  Isa.  lix.  19.  2  Hos^  ^    jq^  3  Num.  xvi.  31,  32. 

^  Ezek.  xxix.  3  ;  xxxii.  2  ;  Ps.  Ixxiv.  13.     "  Gal.  iv.  26.     ^  Rev.  ui,  17. 


330  THE  APOCALYPSE 

Holy  City,  which  they  were  coming  to  overwhelm.^  Daniel 
had  seen  his  four  beasts  come  up  from  the  sea,  and  Esdras 
had  seen  his  eagle,  also,  coming  up  from  it;  this  being 
the  Hebrew  way  of  intimating  that  they  arrived  from 
the  west,^  and,  now,  John  sees  a  beast  rising  out  of  the 
waters.  The  eagle  of  Esdras  had  three  heads,  and  one  of 
the  monsters  in  Daniel  had  four  heads ;  but  this  frightful 
creature  seen  by  John,  had  seven  heads,  and  ten  horns, 
like  the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel.  From  the  vision  of  the 
23rophet  moreover,  the  details  of  its  appearance  are  more 
or  less  largely  borrowed;  the  shape,  as  a  whole,  being 
like  that  of  a  leopard,  its  feet  those  of  a  bear,  and  its 
mouth  that  of  a  lion.  This  allegorical  style  is  common 
to  all  the  Apocalyptic  literature,  from  its  rise  during  the 
Babylonian  Captivity  to  its  disappearance,  centuries  after 
the  Christian  era ;  such  many-headed  and  many -horned 
monsters  being  its  recognised  symbols  of  rulers  and  their 
chief  subordinates.  In  this  case,  the  ten  horns  were  the 
ten  provinces  of  the  Koman  Empire,  whose  proconsuls 
might  well  be  thus  pictured  as  wearing,  each,  a  diadem, 
for  they  were,  in  reality,  kings.  The  seven  heads,  in  the 
same  way,  were  the  seven  emperors,  from  Julius  Caesar ; 
including  Galba,  then  temporarily  on  the  throne ;  for,  like 
Daniel's  beast,  this  one  symbolised  existing,  or  imminent, 
world-empire.  This  universal  dominion  is  only,  however, 
another  form  of  that  of  the  dragon,  since  it  is  through 
him  that  Eome  has  its  power,  and  throne,  and  authority.^ 
Incidentally,  John  notices  that  one  of  the  seven  heads, 
or  emperors,  had  been  wounded  apparently  to  death, 
but  that  this  deadly  wound  was  subsequently  healed ; 
an  allusion,  beyond    misconception,  as  shown  by   what 

^  Rev.  xiii.  1.  ^  Dan.  vii.  3  ;  2  Esdras  xi.  1.  '  Rev.  xiii.  2. 


THE   PASSING   BELL  IN   JUD^A  331 

follows,  to   the   rumoured   survival   of   Nero,   after    his 
supposed  death. 

This  mystic  Beast,  John  tells  us,  attracted  all  eyes, 
and  fascinated  them  bv  its  vague  terrors,  so  that  "  all  the 
world  wondered  after  it,"  and  in  their  slavish  bewitch- 
ment "  worshipped  the  dragon,"  that  is  Satan,  from  whom 
this  monstrous  creation  had  received  its  power  and  great- 
ness :  joining  with  him  in  this  worship,  the  awful  form  of 
the  Beast  itself,  his  suffragan ;  the  dread  symbol  of  Imperial 
Piome.  The  spell  that  so  bound  mankind  at  large,  so  that  it 
literally  deified  the  irresistible  power  that  dominated  the 
world,  is  vividly  painted  by  "  the  whole  earth  "  at  the  sight 
of  its  emblem  breaking  into  an  anthem  of  servile  adora- 
tion and  crying,  "  Who  is  like  the  Beast  ?  Who  is  able  to 
make  war  with  him  ?  "  The  monster  inspired  by  Satan, 
the  dragon,  answers  back  loud  boasts  of  "  great  things  " 
and  hideous  "blasphemies,"  but  John  comforts  the 
churches  by  telling  them,  in  accordance  with  the  belief  of 
the  Christians  and  perhaps  also  of  the  Jews  of  that  age, 
that  his  power  would  be  ended  in  forty-two  months — or 
three  years  and  a  half.^  It  was  the  conviction  of  the  day 
that  Eome  must  fall  under  the  reign  of  a  Caesar,  and  when 
the  seventh  Caesar  had  risen,  by  the  return  of  Nero  to  life, 
his  vengeance  on  her  for  her  revolts  from  him  would 
bring  the  time  of  her  destruction.  Three  and  a  half  years 
constantly  recur  as  the  duration  of  these  closing  events  of 
the  drama  of  the  world.  The  two  witnesses  prophesy 
for  that  time;  and  it  is  that  of  the  woman's  stay  in  Bella  : 
of  the  Gentiles  treading  the  Holy  City  under  foot,  and  of 
the  duration  of  the  authority  of  the  Beast. ^  It  is  clearly, 
at  most,  a  Hebrew  expression  for  a  very  short  period. 

*  Rev.  xiii.  6.  ^  Rev.  xi.  1,5;  xii.  6  ;  xiii.  5. 


332  THE   APOCALYPSE 

Eome,  to  the  Christians  and  Jews,  was  a  constant 
blasphemy  against  God,  His  name,  His  "  Tabernacle  "  or 
Temple,  whether  on  earth  or  in  the  heavens,  and  against 
all  His  servants  here  or  above.  The  claim  of  Caligula  to 
be  hailed  as  a  god  while  alive ;  his  proclaiming  his  sister 
Drusilla  a  goddess;  the  ascription  of  divine  honours  to 
each  emperor  in  succession,  brought  daily  before  Chris- 
tian and  Jew  on  inscriptions  and  coins ;  the  erection  of 
altars  to  the  reigning  emperor  as  Sebastos,  or  Augustus, 
and  the  burning  incense  to  him  as  the  embodiment  of  the 
deified  omnipotence  of  Eome;  even  such  a  monster  as 
Nero  being  thus  worshipped ;  was  a  never-ceasing  insult 
to  Jehovah.  The  Jew  and  the  Christian  alike  believed, 
as  John  expresses  it,  that  it  was  Satan  who  had  given  the 
earth  to  Rome,  as  the  great  patron  of  idolatry :  idols 
being  regarded  by  both  as  devils.  The  grandeur,  the 
pride,  the  majesty  of  the  Eoman  Imperium,  worshipped 
as  the  divine  incarnation  of  success — that  supposed  proof, 
in  all  ages,  of  favour  above — was  maddening  to  the 
worshippers  of  the  One  God,  and  this  worship  of  Eome 
and  the  Augustus  of  the  day,  was  the  great  feature  of  the 
religion  of  the  region  of  the  seven  churches. 

To  this  instrument  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  power, 
John  learned,  it  had  been  granted,  to  make  war  with  the 
saints,  and  to  overcome  them — for  Jerusalem,  the  city  of 
the  saints,  was  doomed  to  fall  ere  long  into  its  hands. 
The  world  at  large,  moreover,  was  to  lie  under  its 
shadow^  and  worship  it:  those  only  daring  to  refuse, 
whose  names  have  been  written  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life.^ 

Lest   any   of   the  brethren  might  be  enticed  to  join 

^  Rev.  xiii.  6,  7,  2  j^gy   ^vii.  8. 


THE   PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD.EA  333 

in  the  war  against  this  arch-enemy,  now  beleaguering 
Jerusalem,  every  one  willing  to  hear,  is  called  on  to 
listen  to  the  seer.  Captivity  and  death,  he  tells  them, 
await  those  who  embark  in  the  struggle  of  the  Zealots ! 
The  faith  and  patience  of  the  saints  are  to  be  shown 
by  their  quietly  bearing  and  waiting !  ^ 

Another  beast,  the  third  great  anti-Christian  power, 
now  reveals  itself ;  coming  up,  in  the  vision,  not  out  of  the 
sea,  but  out  of  the  earth ;  its  head  bearing  two  lamb's 
horns,  though  its  words  are  those  of  a  dragon.^  Like 
the  preceding  monster,  it  was  an  instrument  of  the  Old 
Serpent — the  dragon — though  its  affecting  the  appear- 
ance of  a  lamb  implied  that  it  was  not  to  work  by 
violence.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  emblem  of  "the  false  pro- 
phet," ^  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  hereafter,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  the  misleading  teachers  and  "  sorcerers "  who 
would  seek  to  win  over  the  brethren  to  idolatry  or  anti- 
Christian  error,  as  the  agents  of  the  Eoman  authorities ; 
leading  men  everywhere  to  worship  the  first  Beast,  that 
is,  Eome ;  especially  as  represented  by  the  emporor  whose 
deadly  wound  was  healed ;  a  pointed  anticipation  of  a 
second  reign  of  Nero,  after  his  return  from  concealment. 
The  great  aim  of  the  false  prophet  is  thus  conceived  to  be, 
to  promote  the  worship  of  Eome  and  of  the  Cgesars.  To 
further  this  end,  "great  signs  and  wonders"  would  be  ex- 
hibited by  these  deceivers,  as  had  been  predicted  by  Christ.-* 
They  would  even  make  fire  come  down  out  of  heaven,^  as 
Caligula,  in  imitation  of  the  lightnings  of  Jupiter,  pro- 
duced alarming  counterfeits  by  his  professors  of  magic  arts.*^ 
Busts  and  statues  would  be  made  of  the  deified  emperor, 

1  Rev.  xiii.  9,  10.     ^  j^^y.  xiii.  11  tf.     ^  Rev.  xvi.  13  ;  xix.  20  ;  xx.  10. 
*  Matt.  xxiv.  24;  Mark  xiii.  22.      ^  Rev.  xiii.  13.     ^  Cass;us  Dio.  Ixix.  23. 


334  THE  APOCALYPSE 

who  "  had  been  wounded  by  the  sword,  and  came  to  life 
again,"  and  to  one  of  these  the  false  prophet,  like  Pyg- 
malion, would  be  enabled  by  the  devil,  his  master,  to 
give  life,  so  that  this  "  image  of  the  Beast "  could  not 
only  speak,  but  would  command  that  all  who  did  not 
worship  him  should  be  killed.^  Speaking  statues  were 
well-known  wonders  of  Eoman  superstition.  Valerius 
Maximus,^  for  example,  in  a  list  of  wonders  believed 
to  have  occurred  in  Eoman  history,  includes  speaking 
statues ;  instancing  that  of  Juno  Moneta.  The  speaking 
image,  in  this  case,  is  evidently  a  figurative  allusion  to 
the  miracle  by  which  the  dead  Nero  had  been  restored 
to  life ;  the  Roman  world  largely  believing  that  the  gods 
had  raised  him,  by  special  powers  given  to  a  "  wonder- 
worker," while  the  Christians  regarded  it  as  a  master- 
stroke of  the  dragon — that  is,  the  devil.  His  insane 
demand  that  all  men  should  worship  him,  is  seen  in  his 
issuing  an  edict  that  "  the  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor, 
the  free  and  the  slave,  should  be  stamped  with  his  mark 
— that  is,  with  his  name,  or  the  symbolical  numbers  that 
stood  for  it — on  their  right  hand,  or  on  their  forehead ; 
and  that  no  one  should  buy  from  any  one  on  whom  this 
was  wanting,  or  sell  to  him :  "  ^  language  which  speaks  of 
violent  treatment  of  all  who,  like  the  Christians,  refused 
to  do  homage  to  him,  as  a  god.  To  avoid  all  contamina- 
tion by  this  blasphemy  was,  however,  very  difficult,  for 
the  money  in  common  use  had  on  it  the  head  of  Eome, 
or  of  a  god,  or  of  the  emperor  as  divine,  and  thus  was, 
in  itself,  a  daily  trouble  to  the  brethren ;  making  them 
shrink  from  using  it  more  than  was  absolutely  necessary. 

1  Rev.  xiii.  15.  ^  y^i.  Max.  i.  8. 

»  Rev.  xiii.  16,  17. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN   JUD^A  335 

The  class  of  readers  for  whom  John  was  writing,  and 
his  own  strongly-Jewish  feelings,  is  strikingly  shown,  in 
reference  to  this  delicate  subject,  in  which  concealment 
was  absolutely  required, — by  his  use  of  the  current  rab- 
binical "  wisdom,"  that  is,  the  science  of  numbers  known 
among  the  rabbis  as  Gematria  :  a  branch  of  the  Kabbalah, 
or  secret  science  of  the  scribes.  It  had  been  brought 
from  Babylonia  at  the  return  from  exile,  and  had  been 
gradually  developed  till  each  letter  of  Scripture  stood  for 
a  number ;  the  aggregate  letters  of  any  name  or  fact  being 
held  to  reveal  secret  mysteries  through  the  numbers 
thus  represented;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  mysteries 
could  be  formulated  by  numbers,  so  as  to  be  understood 
by  the  initiated.  This  system  was  boldly  declared  to 
have  been  devised  by  Jehovah  Himself;  His  secret 
meaning  having,  it  was  said,  been  hidden  by  Him  in 
words  from  which  it  was  to  be  disclosed,  by  substituting 
for  these  words,  others  of  the  same  numerical  value. 
Thus,  to  escape  the  idea  of  Moses  having  married  an 
Ethiopian,  the  letters  of  the  word  Cushith  ^  were  added 
together,  as  numbers,  and  the  figures  were  thus  obtained 
which  stand  for  "fair  of  countenance." ^  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  the  Jewish  Christian 
who  wrote  it  finds,  that  the  number  (318)  of  Abraham's 
servants  conceals  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  the  figure  of  the 
Cross, — iota  standing  for  10,  tj  for  8,  making  IH,  the 
symbol  of  Jesus,  while  the  r  represents  the  Cross.  One 
Christian  sect,  a  little  later,  saw  a  proof  that  the  Logos 
was  united  to  Jesus  at  His  baptism,  from  the  fact  that  the 
numerical  value  of  the  letters  of  "  peristera,"  the  word  for 
"dove,"  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  two  letters  alpha 


336  THE   APOCALYPSE 

and  omega ;  the  name  given  by  Christ  to  Himself  in  the 
Apocalypse. 

Having  just  spoken  of  the  "number  of  the  name"  of 
the  first  Beast,  John  calls  attention  to  it,  in  accordance 
with  this  mystical  science ;  telling  us  that  it  is  based  on 
''wisdom,"  that  is,  on  the  rabbinical  "  Gematria,"  and 
proceeds  to  name  the  abhorred  personage  indicated  by 
the  "  Beast  " — giving  the  numbers  which  will  disclose  it, 
when  the  letters  for  which  they  stand  are  remembered. 
He  who  understands  this  cabalistic  "  wisdom "  is  to 
"count  the  number  of  the  beast,"  that  is,  to  change  it 
into  its  equivalent  letters,  "  for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man: 
and  his  number  is  six  hundred  and  sixty  and  six." 

When,  however,  we  act  on  this,  and  add  together  the 
numerical  value  of  the  letters  of  the  name  of  ISTero,  as 
this  secret  "  wisdom  "  wrote  it,  in  Hebrew,  in  those  days, 
"iDp  T)")3 — which  is  a  transcription  of  the  Greek  form 
Nepcov  Kalaap,  we  get  the  number  666,  and  Neron  Kesar 

as  spelt  in  the  Hebrew  letters — was,  we  may  assume, 

the  name  by  which  the  Christians  of  "Asia"  knew  the 
emperor ;  for  the  local  coins  bear  the  equivalent  Greek 
words.  Among  the  brethren  in  the  seven  churches,  the 
meaning  of  John's  cipher  would  therefore  be  instantly 
clear ;  even  the  heathen-born  among  them,  in  those  days, 
being  acquainted  with  this  secret  science,  as  we  see  from 
its  being  a  special  favourite  with  the  Gnostics,  a  little 
later.^ 

As  God,  then,  has  His  Christ,  Satan  has  his  Antichrist, 
and  this  is  to  be  a  Caesar,  Nero,  the  head  wounded  to 
death,  but  not  killed — Nero,  believed  then,  by  the  masses, 

1^  =  50;  -1  =  200;  )  =  G  ;  |  =  50  ;  P  =  100  ;  D  =  60  ;  "1=200,  in 
all  =  6G6. 


THE  PASSING   BELL  IN  JUD.EA  337 

including  the  Christians,  to  be  still  alive;  restored  to 
life,  in  fact,  by  miracle,  through  the  power  of  the  dragon, 
that  is,  the  devil.  "  The  Beast  that  thou  sawest  was  and 
is  not ;  and  is  about  to  come  up  (again)  out  of  the  abyss 
(that  is,  hell)  and  (then,  shortly)  to  go  into  perdition" 
was  rightly  felt  by  John  and  the  brethren  to  be  Anti- 
christ.^ 

In  the  returning  Nero  he  and  they  saw  the  "  exceed- 
ing dreadful "  beast  of  Daniel's  vision,  who  made  war 
with  the  saints,  and  prevailed  against  them^ — the  Man 
of  Sin — who  should  rule  till  the  Ancient  of  Days, — the 
Messiah — came,  and  judgment  was  given  by  Him  in  favour 
of  the  saints.  As  the  rabbis  had  seen  the  Antichrist  in 
Caligula,  the  Christians,  since  the  horrors  of  64,  had  seen 
him  in  Nero.  St.  Paul  had  told  the  churches  that  the  last 
great  foe  would  be  revealed  setting  himself  forth  as 
God,^  but  who  else  could  that  "  man  of  sin,  and  son  of 
perdition  "  be,  but  the  bloody  persecutor  of  the  brethren, 
the  incarnation  of  all  wickedness,  the  murderer  of  a 
brother,  a  mother,  and  of  a  wife ;  the  incendiary  of  Eome, 
the  emperor  of  the  mob,  the  son  of  the  abyss,  whom  even 
hell  could  not  hold  back  from  reappearing,  to  curse 
earth  ? 

The  Eestored- from -Hades  is  brought  forward  as 
in  himself,  a  beast,  though  presently  represented,  once 
more,  as  only  one  head  of  the  earlier  Beast  —  the 
Eoman  Empire :  the  great  dragon,  Satan,  being  the 
virtual  creator  and  the  living  power  in  all  these 
monsters  alike;  for  it  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  devil 
who  gives  Antichrist,  the  wounded  but  revived  Caesar, 

*  Rev.  xvii.  8.     This  pointed  to  the  Caesars.  ^  Dan.  vii.  20. 

»  2  Thess.  ii.  3  ff. 

IV.  Y 


338  THE  APOCALYPSE 

all  his  throne  and  his  power,  for  the  forty-two  months 
he  is  to  hold  it. 

The  false  prophet,  the  accepted  ally  of  the  Antichrist, 
Nero,  looking  like  a  lamb,  but  with  the  voice  and  malig- 
nant spirit  of  a  dragon — was  ready-to-hand  in  the  mob  of 
"  mathematicians,"  dealing,  like  the  rabbis,  in  the  mystical 
powers  of  numbers,  and  of  astrologers,  soothsayers,  sor- 
cerers, and  pretenders  to  hidden  knowledge  and  miracle- 
working,  who  thronged  the  Court,  and  abounded  in  every 
great  city  of  the  empire.  It  was  felt  certain  by  the  Chris- 
tians that  on  his  reappearance,  Nero,  like  Caligula,  would 
set  up  his  statue  to  receive  divine  worship,  and  that  the 
falling  away  of  the  weak  and  false  among  them,  would  be 
shown  in  their  bowing  the  knee  to  it ;  as  that  of  the  men 
of  an  earlier  time  had  been  shown  by  their  bowing  before 
the  Syrian  altars, — the  abomination  of  desolation, — set  up 
in  the  holy  place.  John,  as  we  have  seen,  felt  thus,  and 
St.  Paul  had  written,  fifteen  years  before,  to  the  Thes- 
salonians  :  "  Let  no  man  beguile  you  in  any  wise,  for  the 
day  of  the  Lord  will  not  come  till  after  the  falling  away, 
and  the  revelation  of  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition, 
who  opposes  and  exalts  himself  against  all  that  is  called  God, 
or  that  is  worshipped ;  sitting  in  the  Temple  of  God,  and 
setting  himself  forth  as  God."  The  earlier  coming  of  "  the 
lawless  one  " — the  Antichrist — that  is,  Nero,  would,  he 
added,  be  accompanied  with  "all  power  and  signs,  and  lying 
wonders,  and  with  all  deceit  of  unrighteousness,  through 
the  working  of  Satan  ;  "  •'■  a  description  of  John's  false  pro- 
phet which  reminds  us  of  the  pretended  miracles  wrought 
according  to  Josephus,  by  Eleazar,  the  son  of  Simon.^ 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  3-10.  ^  ^^n  j^  jj^  20,  3. 


THE  PASSING  BELL  IN  JUD^A  339 

The  final  struggle  has  now  come.  The  Dragon;  the 
First  Beast,^  or  Antichrist;  and  the  Second  Beast,  or 
false  prophet,  the  symbol  of  the  reign  of  Satanic  deceit, 
through  thaumaturgists  and  archimagos  of  all  colours: 
three  awful  enemies  of  Christ  and  the  Church,  were  at 
hand,  and  had  been  shown,  in  vision,  to  the  long-endur- 
ing saints ! 

1  See  Geikie's  "  Hours  with  the  Bible :  "  The  Gospels,  202. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB,  AND  THE  OPENING  JUDGMENT 

The  dreadful  spectacle  of  the  three  huge  chimeras,  to 
whose  violence  or  craft  the  weak  fold  of  Christ  would  be 
exposed,  in  the  last  struggle  of  the  powers  of  darkness  to 
overwhelm  it,  must  have  weighed  down  the  heart  of  the 
lonely  seer  at  Patmos,  far  from  his  "  companions  in  tribu- 
lation." But,  as  that  island  lay  like  a  dream  of  rest 
amidst  the  waters  round  it,  a  glimpse  of  peace  and  joy  now 
opened  in  the  vision,  revealing  the  calm  and  eternal 
security  and  bliss,  that  would  hereafter  reward  all  who 
showed,  to  the  end,  their  devotion  to  Christ,  by  their 
zealous  fidelity  and  loving  observance  of  all  Christian 
graces.  Mount  Zion  ^ — originally  as  bare  and  coldly  un- 
inviting as  the  other  hills  around,  but  now  unspeakably 
dear  to  the  Jew  from  immemorial  religious  associations, 
— seemed  to  rise  before  him,  transferred  by  the  strange 
magic  of  a  dream,  to  the  upper  world.  On  its  sacred 
height  stood  the  Lamb  who,  only  a  short  while  before, 
had  opened  the  roll  inscribed  with  the  destinies  of  the 
Church  and  of  mankind,  but  sealed  to  all  except  Him,  and 
with  Him  appeared  a  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand,  on 
whose  foreheads  was  seen  the  name  of  the  heavenly 
Father.  These,  John  perceived,  were  not  the  same  as  the 
similar  number  thus  marked  in  a  former  vision,  but  a 
special  multitude  "purchased  from  among  men,  to  be 

^  Rev.  xiv.  1-5. 
340 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  341 

the  first-fruits  to  God  and  the  Lamb,"  and  thus  an 
earnest  of  the  infinitely  greater  multitude  which  the 
harvest  of  the  world  would  in  due  season  yield.  As 
such,  they  had  showed  in  their  graces  while  alive,  what 
John,  as  a  strict  Jewish- Christian,  regarded  as  the  special 
marks  of  high  devotion  to  his  Master.  They  had  been 
wholly  given  to  His  service,  abstaining  from  all  family 
entanglements ;  in  keeping  with  the  Levitical  law  which 
looked  on  these  as  more  or  less,  an  impurity.^  In  such 
a  view  of  marriage,  he  differed  from  Paul  or  his  school, 
for  the  author  of  the  Hebrews  had  pronounced  "  marriage 
to  be  honourable  in  all  respects,"  ^  and  Paul  himself  had 
only  qualified  this  by  showing  that  a  single  life  was  best 
for  the  evil  times  through  which  the  Church  was  then 
passing,  and  because  the  time  "  was  short,"  before  all 
earthly  interests  would  be  ended  by  the  coming  of  Christ ; 
leaving  but  a  passing  interval  in  which  married  life  could 
be  enjoyed,  and  demanding  complete  and  undivided 
dedication  to  the  service  of  the  Master,  since  so  much 
was  to  be  done,  in  so  brief  a  space,  to  pr>  pare  the  world 
for  His  Advent.^  While  writing  thus,  however,  to  the 
Corinthians,  he  shows  how  far  he  was  from  casting  any 
slur  on  marriage,  by  his  recognition  and  approval  of 
it,  at  the  close  of  his  life,  even  in  "bishops"  and 
"  deacons  "  ;  ^  as,  indeed,  was  fitting,  since  Christ  Himself 
chose  married  men,  among  others,  as  apostles.^  But  the 
hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  were,  besides,  notable 
as  having  kept  themselves  from  all  untruthfulness ;  a 
virtue  so  wide  that  they  were  "  without   blemish ; "   as 

1  Lev.  XV.  18  ;  1  Cor.  vii.  28-33  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  2. 

2  Heb.  xiii.  4.  =^  1  Cor.  vii.  26,  -28-32. 

•*  1  Tim.  iii.  2,  12  ;  Titus  i.  6.  M  Cor.  ix.  5  ;  Matt.  viii.  14. 


342    .  THE  APOCALYPSE 

was  said  of  the  offerings  which  alone  found  acceptance 
before  God  in  the  earthly  Temple. 

As  John  gazed  at  this  celestial  vision,  there  now  rose 
from  the  shining  throng,  a  sound  grand  "  as  the  voice  of 
many  waters,"  so  familiar  to  him  from  that  of  the  waves 
never  silent  round  him.  Swelling  at  times  into  a  volume 
like  "  the  voice  of  a  great  thunder,"  as  when  the  ocean  was 
swept  by  a  storm,  it  presently  sank  to  a  strain  so  gentle 
that  it  seemed  the  music  of  innumerable  harps,  and  to 
this  divine  accompaniment  rose  a  chant  new  to  him,  from 
before  the  throne,  and  before  the  four  living  creatures,  and 
the  crowned  elders — all  nature  and  the  universal  Church 
thus  taking  part  in  it.  But  what  the  words  were,  he 
did  not  catch,  for  only  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thou- 
sand of  the  redeemed,  whom  he  now  saw,  could  learn  it ; 
no  others  having  the  experience  which  it  embodied,  and 
which  gave  it  birth.  But  he  was  told  that  these  "  first- 
fruits  "  of  redemption  were  privileged  to  follow  the  Lamb 
whithersoever  He  went ;  the  fitting  reward  of  that  entire 
fidelity  which  had  followed  Him  here  on  earth,  even 
through  shame,  or  suffering,  or  death,  and  had  made  them 
the  types  of  perfect  devotion  and  love. 

If,  however,  the  Churches  were  to  be  comforted  with 
this  disclosure  of  the  special  glory  awaiting  those  who,  in 
such  times,  practised  the  self-denial  of  a  single  life,  to 
work  the  more  wholly  for  their  Lord,  they  were  still 
further  shown,  by  fresh  visions  of  the  judgments,  impend- 
ing on  all  who  worshipped  the  Beast,  and  persecuted 
the  Church,  how  profoundly  their  sufferings  at  the 
hand  of  their  enemies,  engaged  the  sympathies  of  Heaven, 
visions  which  would  strengthen  their  patience/  by  ful- 

1  Rev.  xiv.  12. 


THE   KINGDOM   OF   THE   LAMB  343 

filling  the  cry  of  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  from  below 
the  heavenly  altar,  that  God  would  "avenge  our  blood 
on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth."  ^  Yet  mercy,  even 
now  delays,  for  the  time,  the  stroke  of  justice.^  A 
great  angel  not  previously  seen,  appeared  flying  in  mid 
heaven,  having  an  eternal  Gospel  to  proclaim  to  these 
very  dwellers  upon  earth,  giving  them  still  a  chance  of 
escape.  Every  nation,  and  tribe,  and  tongue,  and  people, 
was  forthwith  called  upon  by  him,  with  a  great  voice 
which  sounded  over  the  world,  to  fear  God  and  give  Him, 
— not  the  Beast, — glory ;  because  the  hour  of  judgment 
was  come ;  and  to  worship  Him  that  made  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  fountains  of  waters, — 
not  vain  idols. 

An  interval  for  the  acceptance  or  refusal  of  this  appeal 
must  be  assumed,  but,  since  it  fell  on  deaf  ears  and 
hopelessly  impenitent  hearts,  a  second  angel  in  due  time, 
appeared,  proclaiming  in  advance,  the  destruction  of 
Kome,  the  seat  of  Anti-Christian  power,  as  if  already 
accomplished,  though  still,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the  future. 
Lifting  up  his  mighty  voice,  he  filled  the  heavens  with  the 
cry — "  Fallen,  fallen,  is  Babylon  the  great " — that  is, 
Rome — "  which  has  made  all  the  nations  drink  the 
wine  of  her  fornication, — that  is,  has  corrupted  the 
whole  world  with  her  idolatry;  especially  that  of  the 
worship  of  the  imperial  power,  symbolised  by  the  Beast. 

A  third  angel  followed,  crying,  like  those  before, 
with  a  world-filling  voice,  that  any  man  worshipping 
the  Beast  and  his  image — doing  homage  to  the  statue  of 
the  emperor,  and  receiving  "  a  mark  on  his  forehead  or 
in  his  hand,"  would  drink  the  wine  of  God's  wrath,  pre- 
1  Rev.  vi.  10.  ^  Rev.  xvi.  6-8. 


344  THE   ArOCALYPSE 

pared,  "  unmixed/' — that  is,  undiluted — "  in  the  cup  of  His 
indignation ; "  words  which  remind  us  of  the  familiarity 
of  John  and  the  Christians  generally,  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, for  a  Psalmist  had  used  the  same  figure,  long  ages 
before,  telling  us  that  "  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah  there  is  a 
cup,  and  the  wine  foams ;  it  is  full  of  mixture  (to  make 
it  more  powerful),  and  He  pours  it  out,  and  all  the  wicked 
of  the  earth  shall  drain  out  even  all  its  dregs,  and  drink 
them."^  Wine  was  drunk  either  with  or  without  water, 
or  with  or  without  added  drugs.  Isaiah  had  said  that 
Jerusalem  had  drunk,  at  the  hand  of  Jehovah,  the  cup 
of  His  fury,  and  drained  it,^ — and  Jeremiah,  also,  had 
adopted  the  metaphor,  in  connection  with  the  nations  at 
large.^  This  the  angel  announces,  to  signify  that  the 
enemies  of  God  will  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone, 
in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  Lamb ;  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascending  for 
ever  and  ever,  so  that  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night.* 

The  dangers  to  which  the  brethren  were  daily  exposed, 
often  threatening  even  death,  called  for  "strong  conso- 
lation" and  support,  and  this  was  now  sweetly  given 
them,  in  words  consecrated,  ever  since,  to  the  comfort 
of  mourners  and  sufferers.^  A  voice,  we  know  not  whose, 
was  heard  by  the  seer,  calling  to  him  from  heaven,  to 
write — "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord,  from 
henceforth  " — that  is,  from  the  moment  of  their  dying — 
"Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their 
labours;  for  their  works  follow  with  them." 

The  overshadowing  wings  of  heavenly  love  once  more 
close,  after   this   interval   of   pity   and   tenderness,   and 

1  Ps.  Ixxv.  8.  "  Isa.  li.  17.  ^  Jer.  xxv.  15 

*  Kev.  xiv.  11.  5  Rev.  xiv.  12,  13. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  345 

cloudy    visions    of     the    near    approaching    judgments 
recommence. 

A  white  cloud  sailed  into  the  sky,  and,  on  it,  John  saw 
one  like  the  Son  of  man  sitting,  wearing  a  golden  crown, 
and  having  a  sickle  in  His  hand ;  the  Lamb,  in  fact, 
now  appearing  as  the  Judge,  not  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 
Presently,  an  angel  of  the  presence  comes  out  from  the 
heavenly  Temple,  the  seat  of  God ;  crying  with  a  great 
voice  to  Him  who  sat  on  the  cloud,  "  Send  forth  Thy  sickle, 
and  reap :  for  the  hour  to  reap  is  come ;  for  the  harvest 
of  the  earth  is  more  than  ripe."  The  sickle  was  forth- 
with cast  upon  the  earth  and  the  earth  was  reaped.^ 

A  second  angel  now  came  out  of  the  Temple,  also  bear- 
ing a  sharp  sickle ;  a  third  angel,  who  "  has  power  over 
fire "  appearing  at  the  same  time,  from  the  altar  that 
stood  before  the  temple.  This  fire  angel  now  calls  to 
him  who  had  the  sickle,  to  gather  the  clusters  of  the  vine 
with  his  sickle — the  wine  harvest  coming  later  than  that 
of  grain,  which  had  already  been  reaped.  The  grapes,  it 
was  said,  were  now  fully  ripe.  Therewith,  this  sickle  also 
was  cast  on  the  earth,  and  the  vintage  was  thrown  into 
the  great  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  repre- 
sented as  being  outside  the  city,  Jerusalem.  There,  it 
was  now  trodden,  and  out  of  it  came  the  juice  of  the  vine, 
in  blood,  which  rose  in  a  stream  as  high  as  the  bridles  of 
horses;  stretching,  at  that  depth,  over  a  distance  of  six 
teen  hundred  furlongs,  or  about  two  hundred  miles.  It 
thus  covered  more  than  the  whole  surface  of  Palestine, 
which  was  reckoned  1664  stadia,  or  furlongs,  from  Tyre 
to  Egypt ;  Jerome  indeed  giving  the  length  of  the 
country  as  only  1280  furlongs.     The  land  was,  therefore, 

1  Rev.  xiv.  14-16. 


346  THE  APOCALYPSE 

turned  into  a  sea  of  blood,  from  the  extreme  north,  to 
the  Eed  Sea,  at  Suez.^  This  figure  of  the  Judgment  as 
the  treading  of  a  vintage,  is  not  infrequent  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Joel  speaks  of  the  "  press  being  full,  and  the 
vats  overflowing,  with  the  wickedness  of  the  heathen."  ^ 
Jehovah  says,  in  Isaiah,^  "  I  have  trodden  the  winepress 
alone;  and  of  the  peoples  there  was  no  man  with  Me;" 
and  Jeremiah  says,  "  The  Lord  has  trodden  as  in  a  wine- 
press, the  virgin  daughter  of  Judah ; "  alluding  to  the 
overthrow  by  the  Chaldeans.*  Jerusalem,  moreover,  is 
the  scene  of  the  final  decisive  "  day  of  the  Lord,"  in  Joel ; 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  under  the  city  walls,  being 
that  of  its  decision.^  Zechariah,  also,  makes  the  day  of 
the  Lord  have  its  scene  at  the  Holy  City ;  ^  and  the  king 
of  the  north  is,  in  Daniel,  to  pitch  his  tents  between  the 
sea  and  the  holy  mountain.'^  The  same  localisation  of 
the  last  struggle  between  Jehovah  and  His  enemies,  is 
found,  also,  in  the  Apocryphal  books  current  in  John's 
day ;  ^  the  horses  being  said,  in  the  Book  of  Enoch,  to 
wade  up  to  the  breast  in  the  blood  of  sinners,  in  the 
day  of  the  Lord.^  John  thus  uses  imagery  familiar,  in 
the  same  connection,  to  his  readers,  and  shows  us,  also, 
how  the  writings  of  earlier  days  had  supplied  him  with 
part  of  the  drapery  of  his  visions. 

It  thus  seems  to  have  been  expected  that,  as  in  the 
visions  of  the  Day  of  the  Lord  in  the  Prophets,  Jerusalem 
was  to  be  the  scene  of,  at  least,  one  act  in  the  great  closing 
world-drama.  The  advancing  steps  of  this  were  now  being 
shadowed  out  to  the  churches  by  the  seer,  iu  the  imagery 

1  Holtzmann,  iv.  346.  ^  joel  iii.  13.  »  Isa.  Ixiii.  3. 

^  Lara.  i.  15.         ^  Joel  iii.  12.         ^  Zech.  xiv.  1-4.         '  Dan.  xi.  45, 
8  2  Esdras  xiii.  35.        »  Enoch  c.  3. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  347 

they  loved ;  colossal  as  the  phantoms  supposed,  in  those 
days  and  long  after,  to  show  themselves  sometimes,  in 
the  heavens ;  cloud-armies,  with  long  array  of  banners, 
monstrous  forms  of  dragons  and  other  terrors,  and  wheel- 
ing squadrons,  and  the  walls  of  domed  and  castled  cities, 
with  the  onrush  of  opposing  hosts  of  gigantic  warriors, 
making  nations  hold  their  breath  in  pale  terror.  John 
could  not,  as  we  have  seen,^  conceive  that  the  Temple 
itself  could  perish,  though  the  "  nations  "  would  be  allowed 
to  tread  its  outer  court  and  the  Holy  City,  under  foot,  for 
three  years  and  a  half.  But  that  period,  as  has  been 
told,  was  to  limit  their  temporary  triumph  ;  for,  at  its 
close,  the  penitence  of  the  multitude,  after  the  preaching 
and  martyrdom  of  the  witnesses,  would  bring  God  back 
again  to  the  midst  of  His  chosen  people,  and  then,  if  I 
may  put  in  His  mouth  the  words  of  Joel,  which  He  had 
in  part  alresdy  adopted,^  "  Jehovah  would  roar  "  out  the 
battle  cry  "  from  Zion,  and  utter  His  voice  "  as  the  leader 
of  His  hosts  "  from  Jerusalem,"  and  rush  down  on  the 
beleaguering  foe ;  trampling  them,  in  turn,  under  foot,  in 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  till  their  blood  rose,  as  we 
have  heard,  "  breast  deep  "  over  Palestine,  from  Lebanon 
to  the  Eed  Sea.  The  annihilation  of  the  Eoman  army 
then  besieging  Jerusalem,  and  the  deliverance  of  Zion 
from  all  its  foes,  as  the  prophet  had  foretold,^  was  thus 
to  be  the  first  step  in  the  judgment  on  the  dragon  and 
the  Beast. 

But  the  fiery  waves  of  judgment  are  rising  apace ! 
The  last  act  rises  before  the  seer,  foreshadowed  by 
a  "  great  and  marvellous  sign ; "  seven  angels  appear- 
ing   in    the    vision,    bearing    the    seven    last    plagues, 

1  Rev.  xi.  1.  -  Joel  iii.  16.  ^  j^el  iii.  17  ff. 


348  THE  APOCALYPSE 

"finishing  the  wrath  of   God"   on   the   enemies  of  the 
churches.^ 

A  brief  pause,  however,  intervenes,  before  these  terrors 
are  launched  forth  on  mankind ;  the  victors  in  the  awful 
conflict  at  Jerusalem  just  described,  who  survive  the 
freeing  it  from  its  foes,  chanting  their  song  of  triumph, 
before  the  throne  of  God,  in  the  solemn  interval.  They 
had  "come  victorious  from  "  the  battle  with  "the  Beast," 
and  from  their  refusal  to  worship  "  his  image,"  or  to  wear 
"  the  number  of  his  name,"  ^  and  now  stood  on  the  glass- 
like sea,  glowing  in  fiery  splendour  in  the  light  of  the 
throne  :  a  token  of  love  to  the  faithful  servants  of  God,  and 
of  wrath  against  their  enemies.  In  their  hands  were 
"  harps  of  God,"  and  anon  they  raised  a  mighty  chant, 
which  John  recognised  as  combining  the  thanksgiving 
ode  sung  by  "  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,"  and  the  ancient 
Israel,  for  their  deliverance  at  the  lied  Sea,  from  the  hosts 
of  Pharaoh,^  and  the  song  in  which  the  corresponding 
redemption  of  his  saints  by  the  Lamb,  from  the  power  of 
sin  and  death,  was  celebrated  in  the  heavenly  regions; 
perhaps  that  which  John  had  already  heard  sung  by 
the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of 
thousands  of  the  angels,  and  echoed  by  all  creation.*  But 
to  these  they  added  words  of  their  own — "  Great  and  mar- 
vellous are  Thy  works,  0  Lord  God, the  Almighty;  right- 
eous and  true  are  Thy  ways,  thou  king  of  the  nations.^  Who 
shall  not  fear,  0  Lord,  and  glorify  Thy  name  ?  for  thou 
only  art  holy ;  for  all  the  nations  shall  come  and  worship 
before  Thee  ;  for  Thy  righteous  acts  have  been  made  mani- 
fest."   The  exaltation  of  Jehovah  for  the  destruction  of  the 

*  Rev.  XV.  1.  2  j^ey  ^v.  2  flf.  ^  Exod.  xv.  1-17. 

4  Rev.  V.  11-14.  •''  Zech.  xiv.  9. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  349 

hosts  of  Egypt,  now  rose  even  more  grandly,  for  that  of  the 
hosts  of  Rome  beleaguering  the  Holy  City,  Jerusalem. 

This  magnificent  spectacle  having  faded  away,  the  field 
of  vision  was  occupied  by  one  still  more  overpowering.^ 
As  once  before,^  the  heavenly  Temple  —  the  archetype 
after  which  the  Tabernacle  of  Witness  ^  had  been  modelled 
in  the  wilderness  *  —  was  thrown  open,  and  the  seven 
angels  who  had  the  seven  plagues,  came  out  of  it,  arrayed 
in  snowy,  shining,  linen  robes,  like  priests,  and  girt  round 
their  breasts  with  golden  girdles.^  To  these  "  one  of  the 
four  living  creatures  gave  seven  golden  bowls  full  of  the 
wrath  of  God,  who  liveth  for  ever  and  ever ; "  the  Temple 
meanwhile  filling  with  "  smoke  from  the  glory  of  God," 
then  in  it,  and  "  from  His  power,"  as  in  the  vision  of 
Isaiah.^  And  as  at  "  Mount  Sinai,"  when  it  "was  altogether 
on  smoke,  because  Jehovah  descended  upon  it  in  fire ;  and 
the  smoke  of  it  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,"  the 
multitudes  shrank  back  and  stood  afar  off/ — none  of  the 
celestials  "were  able  to  enter  the  temple,"  till  this  awful 
manifestation  had  disappeared,  when  "  the  seven  plagues 
of  the  seven  angels  were  finished." 

A  great  voice,  we  know  not  whose,  now  sounded  out 
of  the  temple,  commanding  these  angels,  to  "  go  and  pour 
the  seven  bowls  of  the  wrath  of  God  into  the  earth ; " 
the  judge  remaining  unapproachable  till  his  wrath  was 
accomplished."^ 

The  pouring  out  of  the  first  bowl  followed,  and  forth- 
with, there  broke  out  "  a  noisome  and  grievous  sore,"  like 
the  boils  and  blains  of  the  Egyptian  plague,^  "  on  the  men 

1  Rev.  XV.  5  ff.       2  j^yy_  j.i_  19^         3  j^um.  xvii.  7,  8.       *  Heb.  viii.  5. 

5  Rev.  XV.  5  ff.      See  parallels,   Rev.  i.  13;  iv.  4;  vii.  9,  13  ;  xvii.  4  ; 
Kviii.  16  ;  xix.  8,  14. 

6  Isa.  vi.  4.  7  £xod.  xix.  18.  ^  r^v_  ^vi.  1.  »  Exod.  ix.  £. 


350  THE  APOCALYPSE 

who  had  the  mark  of  the  Beast  and  worshipped  his  image."  ^ 
The  second  bowl  was  next  poured  into  the  sea,  and  it 
turned  to  blood,  like  the  curdled  blood  of  a  dead  man, 
and  every  living  creature  in  the  waters  presently  died. 
In  an  earlier  scene  of  the  visions,^  the  same  judgment 
had  fallen  on  a  third  part  of  the  sea,  but  now  the  whole 
ocean  was  smitten  with  God's  wrath ;  the  judgment  re- 
calling the  milder  but  terrible  visitation  of  Egypt,  at  the 
word  of  Moses,  when  the  river  Nile  and  its  canals  became 
blood,  and  the  fish  necessarily  died.^ 

The  third  bowl  fell  on  the  rivers  and  springs,  of  which 
only  a  third  had  been  smitten  in  the  former  curse ;  *  all 
the  waters  now  becoming  blood,  like  the  sea.  A  fire 
angel  had  appeared  in  an  earlier  scene,^  "  but  now  the 
angel  of  the  waters "  thus  polluted,  is  seen — his  office 
reminding  us  of  the  angel  of  Jewish  legend  in  a  passage 
omitted  in  the  Ee vised  Version,^  who  troubled  the  waters 
of  Bethesda,  to  give  them  healing  power.  This  Guardian 
of  the  waters  of  the  earth,  is  heard  glorifying  the  aveng- 
ing justice  of  God,  which  has  thus  been  carried  out. 
"Eighteous,"  cries  he,  "art  Thou,  who  art  and  who  wast, 
tliou  Holy  One,  because  Thou  didst  thus  judge :  for  they 
poured  out  the  blood  of  saints  and  prophets,  and  blood 
hast  Thou  given  them  to  drink.  They  deserve  it."  Tl\en, 
from  the  altar — perhaps  from  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  under 
it,  who  had  clamoured  to  be  avenged  for  their  martyrdom, 
and  felt  that  their  prayer  was  answered, — came  a  voice — 
"Yea,  0  Lord  God,  the  Almighty,  true  and  righteous  are  Thy 
judgments."^  The  churches  from  whose  members  these 
martyrs  were  to  be  slain  in  the  persecutions  yet  to  break 

^  Rev.  xvi.  2.      2  n^y  viii^  8,  9.      ^  Exod.  vii.  17-21.      ^  j^ev.  viii.  8-11 
^  Rev.  xiv.  18.  ^  John  v.  4.  ^  Rev.  xvi.  7. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  351 

out — for  the  "  souls  "  who  prayed  for  vengeance  were  not 
only  those  of  martyrs  who  had  already  perished,  but  of 
the  far  greater  number  who  were  to  seal  their  faith  with 
their  blood,  in  the  struggle  against  the  Beast  and  his  image 
— were  thus  encouraged  to  "  overcome,"  by  the  certainty 
that  their  death  would  be  bitterly  atoned  by  their  enemies. 

The  sun  next  felt  the  wrath  of  the  Eternal ;  the  fourth 
bowl,  poured  upon  it,  kindling  its  flames  till  they  "  scorched 
men  as  with  fire."^  But  terrible  as  was  the  agony,  there 
was  no  repentance  for  the  sins  that  brought  such  a  visi- 
tation, but  only  blasphemous  fury  against  the  God  who 
launched  these  plagues  on  men.  Judgment  was  now 
hastening  to  its  full  vengeance.  The  bodies  of  men,  the 
waters  and  living  creatures  of  the  sea,  the  rivers  and 
springs,  and,  even  the  beneficent  sun,  had  been  smitten  with 
a  curse,  to  punish  a  world  which  had  turned  to  the  worship 
of  the  Beast  and  his  image,  and  persecuted  all  who  re- 
mained faithful  to  God  and  His  Christ.  But  now  the  hand 
of  God  reaches  even  to  the  throne  of  the  Beast — to  Eome — 
the  seat  of  the  Eoman  power — the  great  instrument  of 
Satan  in  his  war  against  heaven.  Darkness  was  poured 
out  on  the  seven-hilled  city,  but  though  ''  they  gnawed 
their  tongues  for  pain,"  which  they  might  well  do,  with 
their  foul  bodily  sores,  and  blood  for  drink,  they  only  the 
more  "  blasphemed  the  God  of  heaven  for  all  their  pains 
and  their  sores,  and  felt  no  penitence  for  their  works."  ^ 

The  sixth  bowl  of  wrath  was  poured  out  upon  the 
Euphrates,  drying  up  its  great  stream,  impossible  to  be 
crossed  otherwise,  "  that  the  way  might  be  made  ready 
for  the  kings  coming  from  the  sunrising  "  as  the  way  was 
made  ready  for  Joshua  through  the  dried-up  bed  of  the 

1  Rev.  xvi.  8,  9.  -  Rev.  xvi.  10,  11. 


352  THE  APOCALYPSE 

Jordan.  These  kings,  we  are  told,  were  to  take  part  in 
the  "  war  of  the  great  day  of  God  " — "  the  war  against  the 
Lamb."  ^  The  Parthians  for  two  generations  before  John, 
and  till  the  days  of  Trajan,  as  I  have  said,  the  terror 
of  the  Eastern  Empire,  are  conceived,  by  John,  as 
crossing  the  great  river,  not,  now,  apparently,  as  the  sup- 
porters of  the  revived  Nero,  but  as  part  of  the  huge  army 
stirred  up  by  the  dragon,  to  war  against  God  and  His 
Christ.  It  v\  as  from  the  Euphrates  that  the  innumerable 
army  of  horsemen,  on  horses  with  manes  like  lions,  and 
nostrils  breathing  fire,  had  swept  on  to  kill  the  third  part 
of  man,^  and  now,  after  perhaps  restoring  Nero  to  his 
throne,  they  were  to  join  in  the  final  struggle  between 
light  and  darkness;  God  and  the  Pit. 

But  these  Trans-Euphrates  kings  would  not  have  come, 
it  seems,  of  their  own  motion.  Three  unclean  spirits  or 
devils,  like  frogs,  seemed  to  come  out  of  the  mouth  of 
Satan  the  dragon,  Nero  the  Beast,  and  the  Ealse  Prophet 
respectively ;  the  false  prophet  indicating  either  some 
unknown  mystagogue  patronised  by  Nero  :  perhaps 
Simon  Magus,  whom  legend  connects  with  him,  or 
Balbillus  of  Ephesus,  each  reputed  in  that  day  as 
miracle-workers,  or  perhaps  the  whole  body  of  "  magi- 
cians, soothsayers,  dream-interpreters,"  mathematicians, 
and  the  like,  whose  wiles  were  so  fatal  to  many  weak- 
minded  Christians.  These  frog-like  spirits  of  the  Pit 
had  great  influence  by  their  "  signs,"  one  leading  form 
of  which  was  the  cure  of  those  possessed  of  devils,  of 
which  we  have  an  example,  to  which  I  have  oftec 
referred,   recorded   by   Josephus,  as   performed   by   one 

^  Rev.  xvi.  12  ;  xvii.  14;  xix.  19  ;  xx.  8. 
2  Rev.  ix.  14-19. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB         353 

Eleazar,  a  Jew,  before  Vespasian.  I  have  quoted  the 
story  elsewhere,  but  may  perhaps  advantageously  do  so 
again — as  illustrating  vividly  the  agencies  by  which  men 
were,  in  those  ages,  won  to  believe  in  any  extravagance. 
"  He  put  a  ring  which  had  under  the  seal  on  it,  a  root  of 
one  of  the  kinds  mentioned  by  Solomon,  to  the  nostrils 
of  the  demoniac,  and  then  drew  out  the  devil  through 
his  nostrils,  as  he  smelt  it.  And  when  the  man  fell 
down  immediately,  he  adjured  the  devil  to  return  into 
him  no  more,  still  making  use  of  the  name  of  Solomon* 
and  repeating  the  incantations  left  by  him.  Anxious, 
moreover,  to  convince  the  spectators  that  he  had  the 
power  he  claimed,  he  set  a  cup  of  water  a  little  way  off, 
and  commanded  the  devil,  as  he  went  out  of  the  man, 
to  overturn  it,  which  was  presently  done."  ^  The  three 
spirits  emanating  from  the  three  great  anti-Christian 
adversaries,  had  for  their  errand,  we  are  told,  to  ''  go  forth 
to  the  kings  of  the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  together 
to  the  war  of  the  great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty."  ^ 
Such  a  danger  from  infernal  enemies  would  inevitably 
alarm  the  brethren  beyond  measure,  excited  so  intensely 
as  they  already  were,  by  the  expectation  of  the  imminent 
descent  of  their  Lord  from  heaven,  to  the  final  judgment 
of  mankind.  The  narrative,  therefore,  is  fittingly  inter- 
rupted at  this  point,  by  the  appearance  or  voice  of  Jesus 
Himself,  delivering  a  solemn  warning,  and  giving  a  sup- 
porting promise  to  the  faithful.  "  Behold,"  says  He,  in 
words  repeated  by  Him,  in  part,  long  before,  when  He  was  on 
earth,  and,  in  part,  to  the  churches  of  Sardis  and  Laodicea,^ 
"  I  come  as  a  thief.      Blessed  is  he  that  watcheth,  and 

1  Jos.  Antiq.  viii.  2,  5.  ^  Rev.  xvi.  14. 

3  Matt.  xxiv.  43.     See  also  1  Thess.  v.  2 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  10 ;  Rev.  iii.  3. 
IV.  Z 


354  THE   APOCALYPSE 

keepeth  his  garments,  lest  he  walk  naked,  and  they  see 
his  shame."  ^ 

The  seducing  spirits  would  finally  gather  the  kings 
of  all  the  earth  to  a  place  "  called  in  Hebrew,  Har 
Magedon  ;"  an  allusion,  it  would  seem,  to  "  Megiddon"  or 
Megiddo,  a  fortress  on  the  slopes  of  the  Carmel  range, 
facing  Jezreel,  and  known,  later,  as  the  Eoman  station 
of  Legio,  the  present  Ledjun.  John  calls  it  "  the  hill " — 
Har — of  Magedon,  which  suits  its  actual  site.  The  broad 
plain  or  '  valley "  of  Esdraelon,  which  it  overlooked, 
was  the  scene  of  the  great  victory  of  Barak  over  Sisera, 
but  also  of  the  defeat  and  death  of  Josiah  by  Pharaoh 
Necho;  a  calamity  so  terrible  to  Judah  that  it  was 
lamented  in  songs,  as  late  as  to  the  Persian  domination,^ 
and  that  the  Prophet  Zechariah  names  it  as  the  darkest 
embodiment  of  national  suffering.^  But  we  must  re- 
member that  we  are  reading  a  book  of  visions,  not  of 
history,  and  need  not  dream  of  reducing  to  plain  narra- 
tive a  series  of  grand  prophetic  pictures,  intended  only 
as  symbols  of  God's  purposes;  not  minute  anticipations 
of  their  details.  Ingenuity,  however,  is  tempted  in 
such  matters ;  Ewald,  for  example,  thinking  that  Eome 
is  indicated ;  the  Hebrew  letters  of  Har  Megeddon  being 
equivalent,  in  arithmetical  value,  to  Eoma  ha  Gedolah — 
"  the  great  Eome." 

The  last  scene  in  the  passing  vision,  now  rises  before 
the  seer,  as  the  seventh  angel  pours  out  his  bowl  of 
divine  wrath  on  the  air.  Forthwith  came  a  great  voice 
from  the  throne  of  God  in  the  heavenly  temple,  saying, 
•'What  was  commanded  is  done;"  words  implying  that 
the  actual  close  of  history  had  come,  and  that  no  more 

1  Rev.  iii.  4,  18.  ^  2  Chron.  xxxv.  25.  ^  Zech.  xii.  11.. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  THE  LAMB  355 

interruptions  to  the  final  catastrophe  were  to  intervene. 
Lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunders,  and  an  earthquake 
greater  than  had  ever  been  since  creation,  shook  the 
heavens  and  the  solid  globe.^  Only  the  tenth  part  of 
Jerusalem  had  been  thrown  down  by  the  convulsion 
beneath  it,^  but  now  "the  great  city,"  which,  apparently, 
is  Rome,  was  shattered  into  three  parts,  and  the  cities 
of  the  heathen  were  thrown  down,  and  Eome — the  great 
Babylon, — had  to  drink  to  the  dregs,  "  the  cup  of  the 
fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  God."  As  in  a  former  scene 
of  the  visions,  moreover,^  "  every  island  fled  away,  and  the 
mountains  were  not  found."  To  add  to  all,  great  hail 
fell,  to  which  that  of  the  Egyptian  plague  was  insignificant,* 
for  each  hailstone  weighed  a  talent, — the  weight  given 
by  Josephus  as  that  of  the  huge  stones  hurled  by  the 
Eoman  engines  against  Jerusalem — the  talent  weighino- 
about  half  a  hundredweight.^  But  no  penitence  followed ; 
men  only  blasphemed  God  for  sending  such  a  plague. 
The  earth  was,  assuredly,  ripe  for  judgment. 

1  Rev.  xvi.  17  flf.       2  i^ev.  xi.  13.       ^  j^g^  ^j   ^4         4  Exod.  ix.  22  ff. 
^  Some  balistse  threw  stones  of  even  three  hundredweight.     Dictionary 
of  Antiquities,  art.  Termentum. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   FALL   OF   "BABYLON  THE   GREAT" 

Some  time  after,  we  know  not  how  long,  another  scene  in 
the  great  world-drama  unrolled  itself  before  the  seer,  in 
a  new  vision.  An  invitation  of  one  of  the  seven  avenging 
angels,  called  him  to  come  and  see  the  judgment  of  "the 
great  haiiot,"  that  is,  the  city  of  Rome,  the  centre  of  the 
Antichristian  world-dominion.^  To  seduce  men  to  the 
worship  of  idols  was  habitually  compared  by  the  Hebrew 
writers  to  unchastity;  the  bond  between  God  and  man 
being  thought  of  as  a  marriage  in  which  "  our  Maker  was 
our  husband,"  2  and  Rome  had  been  the  great  corrupter 
of  the  nations,  in  spreading  among  them,  the  most  debas- 
ing form  of  heathenism,  in  the  worship  of  the  Caesars, 
and  of  the  Imperial  Power  which  they  personified. 
Accepted  widely  through  the  empire,  and  with  special 
fervour  in  John's  own  province  of  "Asia,"  it  had  made 
the  nations,  at  large,  worshippers  of  the  Beast,  that  is,  in 
reality,  of  the  devil,  of  whom  Rome,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Christians,  was  only  an  agent  in  his  war  against  their 
Lord.  The  distinctive  characteristics  of  the  guilt  of  the 
"  great  city  "  would  now  be  told,  as  they  appeared  in  the 
sight  of  God.  Like  Babylon  on  the  Euphrates,  amidst 
its  many  canals,  Rome,  the  spiritual  Babylon,  the  seducer 
of  the  nations,  could  be  described,  at  least  by  poetical 

^  Rev.  xvii.  Iff.  ^  Isa.  liv.  5  ;  Jer.  iii.  14. 

356 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT*'      357 

license,  to  enforce  the  parallel,  as  sitting  on  many  waters,^ 
though  the  Tiber  was  her  one  actual  river ;  the  visionary 
picture  being  intended,  as  the  angel  presently  explains,  to 
represent "  the  many  peoples,  and  multitudes,  and  nations, 
and  tongues,"  over  which  the  imperial  city  ruled.^  As 
Nahum  had  said  of  Nineveh,  the  sister  city  of  Babylon,^ 
that,  by  the  multitude  of  her  unchaste  seductions  to  ido- 
latry, she,  like  "a  well-favoured  harlot,  the  mistress  of 
witchcrafts,"  that  is,  of  Satanic  temptations,  had  "sold 
nations  through  her  lewdness,  and  families  through  her 
witchcrafts,"  to  turn  them  from  God  to  idols  and  wicked- 
ness, Rome  had  corrupted  mankind.  Her  awful  power 
had  been  employed  to  spread  and  multiply  the  abomina- 
tions of  idolatry,  to  lead  "  the  kings  of  the  earth "  to 
worship  the  Beast — Rome,  personified  by  the  reigning 
Caesar— and  to  make  all  the  nations^  "drink  the  wine  of 
her  uncleanness,  that  kindled  the  wrath  of  God,"  and  had 
thus  seduced  "all  the  world"  to  show  this  defiance  of 
Jehovah,  as  if  drunken  and  deprived  of  their  senses. 

But  now,  the  seer  feels  as  if  carried  away,  in  his 
trance,  to  a  wilderness,  and  there  he  sees  a  woman  sittino- 
on  a  beast  arrayed  in  scarlet-coloured  trappings,  covered 
with  blasphemous  titles ;  this  monster  having  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns.  It  is  the  Beast  that  had  come  out  of  the 
sea  at  Csesarea,  in  Palestine,^  though  the  diadems  on  its 
ten  horns  are  omitted,  and  the  blasphemous  titles  are 
written  all  over  its  trappings,  not  on  the  seven  horns  only, 
and  is  the  Antichrist,  Nero,  or  if  we  prefer  it,  the  impe- 
rial dignity.  Its  scarlet  housings  make  us  think  of  the 
wealth,  the  power,  and  the  insane  pride  of  the  Roman 

^  Jer.  li.  13.  ^  Rev.  xvii.  15.  ^  Nali.  iii.  4. 

*  Rev.  xiv.  8.  ^  jj^ev.  xiii.  1. 


358  THE  APOCALYPSE 

emperorS)  and  of  Eome  itself,  but  also  of  the  colour  of 
the  Eoman  soldier's  cloak;  as  if  hinting  at  the  legions 
under  the  Beast's  command/  but  perhaps,  also,  at  the 
blood  of  the  saints  shed  by  the  imperial  demon.^  On 
this  dreadful  form  sat  a  woman  clothed  in  purple  and 
scarlet ;  emblems  at  once  of  splendour  and  blood-thirsti- 
ness. One  is  reminded  of  the  imagery  used  by  Ezekiel 
of  the  King  of  Tyre,^  in  the  magnificence  of  this  personi- 
fication of  the  great  city ;  for  she  was  decked  with  gold, 
and  precious  stones,  and  pearls.*  In  her  hand  she  carried, 
like  the  older  Babylon,  in  the  vision  of  Jeremiah,^  a  golden 
cup,  full  of  idolatrous  abominations ;  the  emblem  of  her 
foul  morality  and  spiritual  corruption.  On  the  band 
which,  like  high  Eoman  ladies,  she  wore  across  her  fore- 
head, she  had,  moreover,  her  name  written,  as  the  Eoman 
harlots  were  wont  to  have  theirs  over  their  cells,^ — this 
name  being  a  "  mystery,"  to  be  understood  only  in  the 
secret  gatherings  of  the  brethren — Babylon  the  gkeat, 

THE  MOTHER  OF  THE  HARLOTS  AND  OF  THE  ABOMINATIONS 

OF  THE  EARTH.  Looking  closely  at  her,  John  saw  that 
she  was  drunk,  not  with  wine,  but  with  the  blood  of  the 
saints  and  martyrs  of  Jesus  Christ — a  vivid  allusion 
as  it  must  have  seemed,  in  the  circles  of  the  survivors, 
to  the  horrors  of  Nero's  slaughter  of  Christians  in  64, 
and  to  the  subsequent  persecutions  throughout  the  empire, 
in  one  of  which  Antipas  had  perished. 

Astonished  at  the  sight  of  such  a  terrific  apparition, 
John  tells  us  he  wondered  greatly,  but  the  angel  pre- 
sently condescended  to  explain  its  weighty  significance.' 

1  Rev.  xviii.  12,  16  ;  Matt,  xxviii.  28.  2  j^ev.  xvii.  6. 

2  Ezek.  xxviii.  13.  *  Rev.  xviii.  16.  ^  Jer.  11  7. 

«  Juv.  vi.  123.  ''  Rev.  xvii.  7-18. 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT"      359 

The  Beast,  he  said,  was  he  who  had  been,  but  for  the 
time  was  not,  but  was  about  to  come  up  again  out  of  the 
abyss — the  dark  rcahns  of  Satan,  beneath  the  earth — 
though  only  for  a  short  time ;  after  which  he  was  to  return 
to  final  perdition.  This  can  apply  to  no  one  else  but  Nero, 
the  head  wounded,  as  was  thought  fatally,  but  nevertheless 
healed — believed  dead,  but  now,  restored  to  life  again, 
and  confidently  expected  back  among  men,  to  sit  on  the 
throne  once  more.  That  he  should  in  this  ghost-like  way 
reappear  from  the  abyss,  was  in  keeping  with  the  ascend- 
ing from  it  of  the  locusts  and  the  horsemen  of  a  former 
scene.^  "  All  men,"  the  angel  added,^  "  except  those 
written  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  in  the  book  of 
life,  would  wonder  when  they  saw  the  Beast "  come  again  ; 
thinking  how  he  had  disappeared  from  amidst  such  power 
and  glory,  and  now,  once  more,  was  in  the  flesh,  among 
the  living.  But  to  understand  such  a  mystery,  was 
possible  only  to  those  who  had  skill  in  "wisdom." 

"The  seven  heads,"  he  continued,  "had  a  double 
meaning;  representing  at  once  the  seven  hills  on  which 
Rome  sits,  and  also,  the  seven  kings,  or  emperors  "  ^ — of 
whom  Julius  Csesar,  Augustus,  Tiberius,  Claudius,  and 
Nero  were  dead,  while  Galba  was  reigning  for  the  moment, 
but  would  presently  fall.  "The  other,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"is  not  yet  come,"  but  he  points  out  unmistakably  whom 
he  was,  by  saying  that  he  was  "  the  Beast,  that  was,  and 
is  not,  but  was  himself  also  an  eighth,"  though,  already, 
he  had  been  one  "  of  the  seven  "  heads,  and  then  after 
his  temporary  restoration  would  "go  into  perdition." 
That  the  seven  heads  are  called  kings  *  is  in  accordance 
with  the  language  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  who  both  call 

^  Rev.  ix.  1  ff.        2  ^Qy  j^yii  8.        '^  Rev.  xvii.  9  ff .        *  Rev.  xvii.  ]  0  S. 


360  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  emperors  "  kings,"  ^  and  that  the  ten  horns  are  also 
called  kings  was  natural,  as  they  were  kings  in  fact, 
though  not  in  name.  As  proconsuls  or  imperial  legates, 
of  the  ten  chief,  or  senatorial  provinces,  they  were,  further, 
in  the  belief  of  the  churches,  destined  to  be  kings  at  the 
breaking  up  of  the  empire,  though  as  yet  they  were  not 
thus  styled,  but  were  only  horns,  not  heads;  receiving, 
however,  kingly  authority  from  the  Beast,  to  rule  along 
with  him  for  a  brief  hour.^  They  would  be  faithful  to  him, 
that  is,  to  the  restored  Nero,  and  as  fiercely  against  the 
Christians;  "making  war  against  the  Lamb."  But  as  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  Lamb  would  overcome  them, 
at  the  head  of  His  "  called  and  chosen  and  faithful  ones."^ 
Keverting,  now,  to  the  first  part  of  the  vision,  the 
angel  went  on  to  say  that  the  waters  by  which  John  had 
seen  the  woman  sitting,  were  the  many  nations  subject 
to  Eome.  But  Nero,  the  Beast,  supported  by  his  pro- 
consuls, furious  at  the  great  city  for  having  driven  him 
from  her,  and  made  him  suffer  so  greatly,  would  in  his 
fierce  vengeance  "  make  her — the  harlot — desolate  and 
naked,  and  would  eat  her  flesh,  and  would  burn  her 
utterly  with  fire."  God  had  put  it  into  their  hearts  to  do 
this,  and  thus  carry  out  His  "mind,"  and  had  moved  them  to 
common  action  and  one  aim,  that  they  might  agree  to  give 
back  the  kingdom,  that  is,  the  empire,  to  the  Beast,  instead 
of  seeking  it  for  themselves,  or  fighting  against  him ;  his 
rule  continuing  till  the  words  of  God,  as  revealed  to  John, 
were  accomplished.^  Then  follows  the  express  statement 
that  the  woman  is  the  great  city,  that  reigns  over  the 
kings  of  the  earth.^ 

1  Pet.  ii.  13,  17  ;  1  Tim.  ii.  2.         -  Kev.  xvii.  1-2.         ^  Rev.  xvii.  14. 
*  Rev.  xvii.  17.  "^  Rev.  xvii.  18. 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT"       361 

The  idea  of  the  inspired  writer  is,  thus,  that  the 
great  proconsular  rulers  of  the  provinces,  in  the  chaos 
which  was  believed  to  be  at  hand,  in  consequence  of 
Nero's  temporary  disappearance,  would  not  seek  the 
dismemberment  of  the  empire,  but,  though  perhaps 
aspiring  to  virtual  independence  after  a  time,  would 
join  him  in  humiliating  Eome  by  restoring  the  revived 
emperor  to  the  throne,  without  acknowledging  the  right 
of  the  citizens  in  the  matter.  But  this  was  to  be  followed, 
or  preceded  by  their  taking  possession  of  the  city,  and 
then  giving  it  up  to  plunder ;  making  it  "  desolate  and 
naked,"  maltreating  its  population,  and  finally  burning  it 
to  the  ground.^  The  commanders  of  the  legions — Vindex, 
Yirginius,  Nymphidius  Sabinus,  Galba,  Macer,  Capito, 
Otho,  Vitellius,  Mucianus,  and  Vespasian,  it  Was  fancied, 
after  thus  combining  to  restore  Nero,  would  do  homage  to 
him — the  Beast.  How  widespread  must  have  been  the 
belief  of  Nero  being  alive  among  the  Parthians,  to  lead 
John  to  such  expectations  ! 

The  Jews  of  Palestine,  after  being  sorely  harried  by 
the  Eomans,  in  Galilee  and  Pergea,  for  two  years,  had 
been  less  so  since  July  68  ;  Mucianus  and  Vespasian 
being  engrossed  by  the  imperial  troubles  of  the  time,  which 
fostered  the  belief  that  the  empire  was  about  to  perish. 
Indeed,  Paul,  himself,  seems  to  have  looked  for  this,  four- 
teen years  earlier.^  Nor  was  the  thought  so  fanciful  as  one 
might  suppose,  for  even  so  calm  a  mind  as  that  of  Tacitus, 
speaks  of  the  year  in  which  John  wrote — 69 — as  "well-nigh 
the  last  of  the  republic,"  ^  and  Josephus  tells  us,  that  the 
accession  of  Vespasian  saved  the  Eoman  State  from  ruin.^ 

1  Rev.  xvii.  16.        2  2  Thess.  ii.  1  ff.     See  Geikie's  "St.  Paul,  '  i.  495. 
^  Tac.  Hist.  i.  11.  4  Bell  Jud,  iv.  11,  5. 


362  THE  APOCALYPSE 

But  now  the  airy  vision  fades  away,  and  John  no  longer 
sees  either  the  Scarlet  Woman,  or  the  monstrous  beast  on 
which  she  sits.  The  unsubstantial  pageant  has  melted 
into  the  air  on  which  it  had  been  painted.  Afar  off  from 
the  hum  and  distraction  of  men,  the  lonely  watcher  of 
Patmos  could  write  down  what  he  had  seen  and  heard, 
and  ponder  its  mysteries.  Some  time  after,  however, 
he  felt  himself  once  more  in  the  Spirit,  and  with  eyes 
closed  to  the  scenes  around,  but  open  to  the  wonders  of 
heavenly  revelation,  he  sees  another  angel  of  the  highest 
rank,^  coming  down  out  of  the  skies,  with  transcendent 
authority ;  and,  as  became  a  mighty  envoy  of  the 
Eternal,  so  glorious  in  his  majesty  that  the  whole  earth 
was  lightened  with  the  splendour  shining  from  him.  His 
mission  was  to  proclaim  the  immediate  destruction  of 
the  great  world-city,  Babylon ;  that  is  Eome.  John  may 
himself  have  seen  the  wondrous  "  seat  of  the  Beast,"  with 
its  accumulation  of  all  that  was  beautiful  and  rare,  on 
a  scale  never  before  known.  There  might  be,  under  the 
shadow  of  its  magnificence,  dark  sloughs  of  pestilential 
misery,  where  the  slave  and  the  poor  rotted  and  died, 
to  be  buried  in  pits  with  beasts,  but  the  world  had  been 
ransacked  to  collect,  for  its  thousand  palaces,  the  most 
precious  marbles  and  costly  grandeur.  Lines  of  tbe 
noblest  columns  adorned  the  gardens,  and  mansions,  and 
palaces,  of  the  great ;  the  purple  and  green  of  porphyry, 
the  glitter  of  ruddy  granite,  marbles  of  every  tint,  yellow, 
orange,  rose,  and  carnation ;  colossal  images  of  dazzling 
white,  from  Carrara,  or  Pentelicus,  or  of  gilded  bronze ; 
the  triumphs  of  Greek  sculptors ;  statues  so  numerous, 
that,  even  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  they  were  said  to 

^  Rev.  xviii.  1  ff. 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT"       363 

be  more  abundant  than  the  population,^  with  its  myriads 
of  slaves,  high  and  low.  Never  before  had  power  so 
tremendous,  centralisation  so  grasping,  luxury  so  insane, 
with  a  background  of  misery  and  vice  so  terrible,  been 
known.  On  the  heights  of  the  Palatine,  in  this  mightiest 
and  most  magnificent  of  cities,  in  sight  of  the  golden 
milestone  in  the  Forum,  from  which  went  out  the  military 
roads  to  all  the  world  from  Eome,  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Atlantic,  and  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  slopes  of 
Atlas  and  the  rocks  of  Nubia,  the  absolute  lord  of  both 
city  and  habitable  globe  had  his  seat.  The  kingdoms  of 
earth,  far  and  near,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun, 
on  every  side,  stretching  out  immeasurably  afar,  were 
all  his  own.  Like  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  the  most  high  God 
had  given  him  the  kingdom,  and  greatness,  and  glory,  and 
majesty,  so  that  all  the  peoples,  nations,  and  languages 
trembled  and  feared  before  him:  whom  he  would  he 
slew,  and  whom  he  would  he  kept  alive ;  and  whom  he 
would  he  raised  up,  and  whom  he  would  he  put  down."^ 
Humanity  could  not  bear  up  under  such  a  weight  of 
glory.  The  imperial  brain  gave  way,  and  madmen  sat  on 
the  throne  of  the  world,  fancying  themselves  gods,  and 
guilty  of  such  deeds  of  blasphemy  and  crime  as  make 
mankind  still  shudder  to  remember. 

The  vision  of  the  City  of  the  World  had,  apparently, 
faded  away,  before  this,  of  the  "  angel  having  great  autho- 
rity," whose  glory  "lightened  the  earth,"  as  day  shines 
from  the  golden  sun.  Presently,  however,  his  "  mighty 
voice  "  filled  the  heavens,  proclaiming,  in  anticipation  of 
the  overthrow  of  that  wondrous  capital,  now  so  near 
— "  Fallen,  fallen,  is  Babylon  the  great,  and  is  become  a 

1  Gibbon  iii.  148.  2  ^^^^  ^    jg^  ^q^ 


364  THE   APOCALYPSE 

habitation  of  devils  " — laid  waste,  and  like  the  wilderness 
to  which  the  Church  had  been  driven,^  or  that  where 
the  Scarlet  Lady,  the  symbol  of  pagan  Rome,  had  been 
seen  2 — and,  as  a  wilderness,  "  the  hold  of  every  unclean 
spirit,  and  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird" — devils 
and  unclean  spirits,  and  foul  carrion  vultures,  and  the 
like,  haunting  such  deserts.^  She  had  earned  this  doom, 
which  would  be  inflicted  on  her  by  the  returning  Nero, 
and  his  allied  proconsuls,*  in  unconscious  fulfilment  of 
the  wrath  of  God,  for  her  having  corrupted  and  destroyed 
all  the  nations  by  her  sins,  as  by  drugged  wine ;  "  the 
kings  of  the  earth  "  abetting  her  wickedness ;  ^  the  mer- 
chants of  the  world  at  large,  having,  moreover,  been  their 
eager  confederates,  and  having  grown  rich  "  by  the  great- 
ness of  her  wanton,  immeasurable  luxury  and  extrava- 
gance, monstrous  beyond  even  that  of  ancient  Tyre,  as 
told  by  Ezekiel.^ 

Notwithstanding  the  hideous  scenes  of  Nero's  persecu- 
tions, after  the  Moloch  Carmagnole  of  the  year  64,  to 
divert  the  charge  of  having  set  fire  to  the  city,  from  the 
emperor  to  the  Christians,  many  still  remained  in  Rome, 
doing  what  they  could  for  their  Master.  The  richer 
classes,  whom  they  could  rarely  approach,  had  never 
yielded  many  converts ;  but  the  poor  proscribed  brethren 
could  still  move  freely  among  those  more  of  their  own 
social  level ;  the  wretched  proletariat  and  the  slaves. 
Not  a  few  of  these  eagerly  listened  to  the  words  of  hope 
they  brought ;  moved  the  more  readily,  no  doubt,  to  do  so, 

^  Rev.  xii.  14.  ^  Rev.  xvii.  3. 

^  Matt.  xii.  43  ;  Luke  xi.  24 ;  Isa.  xiii.  20-22 ;  xxxiv.  13-15 ;  Jer. 
1.  39  ;  Zeph.  ii.  14  ;  Ps.  cii.  6  ;  Bar.  iv.  35. 

*  Rev.  xvii.  16.                  ^  Rev.  xviii.  3.  ^  Ezek.  xxvii.  12-24. 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT       365 

by  the  transparent  sincerity  of  those  who  sought  to  win 
them  ;  content  to  live  by  daily  toil  in  a  poverty,  almost  as 
extreme,  as  their  own ;  having  their  homes  in  the  poorest 
quarters  of  the  town,  and  ministering  without  reward  to  the 
bodily  as  well  as  spiritual  wants  of  the  most  wretched  and 
hopeless.  They  bore  themselves,  indeed,  like  their  Master, 
as  men  amongst  fellow-men,  with  no  regard  to  the  accidents 
of  life,  but  seeing  only  that  manhood  in  the  highest  which 
was  also  the  glory  of  the  lowest.  They  now,  however, 
seemed  in  the  vision  to  be  told  to  leave  Eome,  as  their 
brethren  in  Jerusalem  had  been  directed  to  flee  from  it 
to  Pella  ;^  a  voice,  different  from  that  of  the  sun-like  angel, 
sounding  down  from  heaven  the  command,^  "  Come  forth, 
my  people,  out  of  her,  that  ye  have  no  fellowship  with 
her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues  :  for  her 
sins  have  read  ed  even  into  heaven,  and  God  has  remem- 
bered her  iniquities." 

Then,  as  if  addressing  the  host  of  Nero  and  his  "  kings," 
who  were  presently  to  execute  God's  wrath  upon  her,  the 
Voice  commands  them  to  "  Eender  to  her  even  as  she 
has  rendered ;  aye,  double  to  her  the  double,  according  to 
her  works ;  in  the  cup  which  she  mingled  to  destroy 
the  saints,  mingle  to  her  double."  Let  her  torment  and 
mourning  be  great  as  the  splendour  that  had  been  her 
glory,  and  as  her  wantonness.^  For,  as  she  had  said,  like 
Babylon,  of  old,*  that  she  sat  a  queen,  and  was  no 
widow,  and  would  never  see  mourning,  so,  in  one  day, 
should  her  plagues  come ;  death,  and  mourning,  and 
famine ;  and  she  should  be  utterly  burned  with  tire,  by 

1  Rev.  xii.  6  ff.  ^  ^^y  ^viii.  4  S. 

»  Isa.  xl.  2 ;  Jer.  1.  15,  29  ;  Ps.  cxxxvii.  8,  9.  •*  Isa.  xlvii.  7. 


366  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  Beast  and  his  captains;^  "for  strong  is  the  Lord  God 
who  judges  her  "  through  them.^ 

The  destruction  of  the  Mistress  of  the  World  thus  an- 
nounced, ahnost  overpowers  the  seer.  What  laments 
and  wailings  would  rise,  not  from  its  own  population 
alone,  but  from  all  nations !  The  kings  of  the  earth,  he 
cries  out,  the  partners  in  her  guilt,  but  now  the  instru- 
ments of  God's  avenging  wrath  upon  her,  "  shall  weep 
and  wail  over  her,  when  they  look  upon  the  smoke  of 
her  burning,  as  they  stand  afar  off  for  fear  of  her  tor- 
ment," which  might  overwhelm  themselves  if  they  came 
near.  "  Woe,  woe,"  men  will  hear  them  crying  out,  alas 
for  "  the  great  city,  Babylon,  the  strong  city  !  for  in  one 
hour  is  thy  judgment  come."  The  merchants  of  the 
world,  also,  "weep  and  mourn  over  her;  no  one  being 
left  to  buy  their  merchandise  any  more."  He  had  seen 
the  piled-up  wealth  in  the  warehouses  of  Ephesus,  if  not 
also  in  the  great  magazines  on  the  Tiber,  and  in  the  shops 
and  bazaars  ; — the  cups  and  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  the 
treasures  of  precious  stones  and  pearls ;  the  fine  linen, 
and  purple  and  silk,  and  scarlet  in  all  modes  and  fancies ; 
the  wealth  of  all  kinds  of  fragrant  wood,  to  fill  the 
palaces  of  the  great  with  perfume  at  their  feasts ;  and 
vessels  of  ivory  of  endless  forms  for  endless  uses;  and 
exhaustless  riches  of  all  that  art  could  fashion  from  the 
most  precious  woods,  or  brass,  or  iron  or  marble ;  stores 
of  cinnamon  from  the  far  East,  and  priceless  Asiatic 
ointments  for  the  hair,  and  incense,  and  ointments  for 
the  baths,  and  frankincense  for  the  altars,  and  untold 
riches  of  wine,  and  oil,  and  fine  flour,  and  wheat,  and  the 
cattle  and  sheep  of  a  thousand  hills  and  pastoral  vales, 

^  Rev.  xvii.  16.  ^  Rev.  xviii.  5  8. 


^ 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GKEAT        367 

and  endless  horses  and  chariots,  and  the  slaves  who 
tended  them — and  the  myriad  slaves  of  the  field  and  the 
household,  and  workshops,  and  trades,  and  professions; 
men  with  souls,  but  ranked  only  as  chattels.  The  fruits, 
brought  from  many  climes,  after  which  the  soul  of  Eome 
thirsted,  would  be  seen  no  more,  nor  would  the  dainty  and 
sumptuous  things  so  dear  to  her,  be  found  in  her  any 
more  at  all.  The  merchants  of  all  these  things,  whom 
her  market  made  rich,  would,  like  the  kings,  "  stand  afar 
off,  for  fear  of  her  torment,  weeping  and  mourning,  and 
crying  out,  Woe !  woe !  the  great  city !  she  that  was 
arrayed  in  fine  linen  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  decked 
with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  pearl !  for  in  one  hour 
so  great  riches  is  made  desolate." 

And  as  the  kings  and  the  traders,  so  the  seafaring 
thousands,  who  gained  their  living  on  the  waters,  would 
"  stand  afar  off,  and  cry,  as  they  looked  upon  the  smoke 
of  her  burning,  What  city  was  like  the  great  city  ?  and 
would  cast  dust  on  their  heads,  and  cry,  as  they  wept 
and  mourned  over  her,  Woe !  woe !  the  great  city,  by 
which  all  that  sail  the  sea  were  made  rich,  by  the  great- 
ness of  the  traffic  to  and  from  it !  for  in  one  hour  she  is 
made  desolate." 

But,  now,  the  voice  of  the  angel  once  more  breaks  in, 
calling  on  heaven,  with  its  hosts,  and  the  earth  with  its 
"  saints,  and  apostles,  and  prophets,  to  rejoice  over  her ; 
because  God  has  judged  their  judgment  on  her,"  avenging 
on  her  all  the  sufferings  she  has  inflicted  on  His  servants, 
and  all  her  sins  and  blasphemy.^ 

Jeremiah  had  told  Seraiah  that  when  he  had  finished 
reading  the  prophet's  roll,  predicting  the   desolation  of 

^  Rev.  xviii,  9-20. 


368  THE  APOCALYPSE 

Babylon,  he  was  to  bind  a  stone  to  it,  and  cast  it  into  the 
Euphrates,  saying,  "Thus  shall  Babylon  sink,  and  shall 
not  rise,  from  the  evil  that  I  will  bring  upon  her."^  To 
sink  stones  thus  was,  in  antiquity,  at  least  among  the 
Greeks,  the  usual  form  of  confirming  agreements  or  assur- 
ances ;  implying  that  these  were  as  settled  and  unchange- 
able as  the  sinking  of  the  stone  was  final  and  irrevocable. 
John  introduces  in  his  present  vision,  a  similar  symbolic 
affirmation  of  the  utter  and  permanent  extinction  of 
Eome,  by  the  Beast — Nero — and  his  supporters,  the 
kings,  or  satraps  of  provinces.^  A  mighty  angel  seems, 
in  the  vision,  to  take  up  a  stone  huge  as  a  great  mill- 
stone, and  cast  it  into  the  sea,  saying,  as  it  fell,  "  Thus, 
with  a  mighty  fall,  shall  Babylon,  the  great  city,  be  cast 
down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more  at  all."  Nor,  adds  he, 
addressing  Eome  directly,  "  shall  the  voice  of  players  on 
the  harp,  or  of  singers,  or  flute-players,  or  trumpet- 
blowers,  be  heard  in  thee  any  more  at  all ;  nor  shall  any 
workman  of  any  calling  be  found  any  more  at  all  in  thee ; 
and  the  sound  of  a  millstone  shall  be  heard  no  more  at 
all  in  thee ;  and  the  light  of  a  lamp  shall  shine  no  more 
at  all  in  thee ;  and  the  voice  of  the  bridegroom  and  of  the 
bride  shall  be  heard  no  more  at  all  in  thee;  for  thy 
merchants  were  the  princes  of  the  earth;  for  by  thy 
sorcery  were  all  the  nations  deceived."^  Nor  was  the 
cause  of  her  destruction  doubtful,  since  John  adds,  that 
"  in  her  was  found  the  blood  of  prophets,  and  of  saints, 
and  of  all  that  have  been  slain,"  in  Christian  times, "  upon 

1  Jer.  H.  63,  64.  «  Rev.  xviii.  21  flF. 

*  The  various  details  of  this  picture  are  to  be  found  in  the  Prophets : 
Jer.  XXV.  10  ;  Isa.  xxiv.  8 ;  Ezek.  xxvi.  13  ;  Jer.  vii.  34,  xvi.  9  ;  Isa. 
xxiii.  8  ;  Nahum  iii.  4,  So  intimate  was  John  with  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures J  so  naturally  did  he  adopt  their  imagery. 


THE  FALL  OF  "BABYLON  THE  GREAT"      369 

the  earth."!  The  cry  of  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  had 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  !  Whatever 
troubles  befell  them,  the  churches  might  comfort  them- 
selves by  the  thought,  that  their  blood,  like  that  of 
righteous  Abel,  would  cry  from  the  ground  for  vengeance, 
and  that  that  vengeance  would  assuredly  be  rained  down 
on  their  enemies  ! 

1  Rev.  xviii.  21-24  ;  xvii.  6. 


IV.  2   A 


CHAPTEE  XV 

THE   APPEARING   AND   VICTORY   OF   CHRIST 

John  does  not  dwell  on  the  actual  destruction  of  Eome, 
so  vividly  painted  beforehand,  but  passes  on  to  the 
moment  after  it  has  been  "  utterly  burnt  up,"  ^  and  its 
site  turned  into  a  desert  haunted  by  devils,  and  foul 
beasts  and  birds,  as  that  of  the  Chaldee  Babylon  had 
long  been.  The  cry  of  the  souls  from  below  the  altar  in 
heaven  had  thus  been  fully  answered  at  last !  The  dream 
of  the  Jew  had  been  fulfilled ;  Eome  had  been  annihi- 
lated by  God,  and  Jerusalem  raised,  in  its  place,  to  the 
position  of  world-metropolis !  For  this,  the  Palestine 
revolt  from  Eome  had  been  braved ;  for  this,  the  Pharisee 
had  compassed  sea  and  land  for  generations ;  to  make  pro- 
selytes who  would  swell  the  great  army  of  God,  against 
that  day  when  He  would  tread  Eome  under  His  feet,  and 
exalt  Israel  above  the  nations.  John  had  seen,  in  the 
brain  pictures  of  his  visions,  the  Holy  City  given  up  to 
the  heathen ;  except  the  Temple  and  the  courts  of  the 
worshippers,  which  Jehovah  had  measured  off  for  Him- 
self, as  a  refuge  for  His  faithful  ones  till  the  foe  had  been 
swept  away.  This,  a  scene  in  these  visions  had  painted 
in  symbol,  as  accomplished,  when  the  wine-press  w^as 
trodden  outside  the  city,  till  blood  covered  all  the  land  up 
to  the  bridles  of  the  horses.^     Jerusalem,  as  we  have  seen, 

^  Rev.  xvii.  16  ;  xvi-i.  8,  2.  ^  ^^y  ^iv.  20. 

370 


THE  APPEARING  AND  VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  371 

had,  before  this,  repented  of  her  sins,  after  the  death  and 
raising  to  heaven  of  the  witnesses,^  and  was  once  more 
the  City  of  the  Great  King,  to  which  all  the  nations 
would  come,  as  their  religious  and  political  centre,-  and 
where  Jehovah  would  reign  on  Mount  Zion,  "even  for 
ever,"  over  all  mankind ;  the  Jew  being  supreme.  The 
great  battle  in  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  foretold  by 
Joel,^  had  already,  in  vision,  swept  Rome  from  Palestine. 

The  destruction  of  Eome  by  Nero,  with  the  aid  of  his 
great  captains  and  the  kings  of  the  East,^  had  been  the 
second  step  in  this  vision-drama ;  and  now,  by  the  efface- 
ment  of  the  mighty  city  from  the  earth,  in  which  John,  and 
even  a  man  so  acute  as  St.  Paul,  sharing  the  current 
persuasion  of  the  Jew  and  Christian  world,  so  evidently 
believed  as  almost  immediate,  the  way  was  finally  cleared 
for  the  coming  of  Christ.  His  kingdom  as  the  Messiah 
must  forthwith  appear  ! 

It  must,  therefore,  have  been  only  what  he  had  ex- 
pected, when,  some  time  after  the  vision  of  the  judgment 
on  Rome,  and  its  burning  to  the  ground,  the  Spirit  having 
come  on  him  again,  he  saw",  in  prophetic  trance,  high 
jubilation  in  the  heavens,  at  the  triumph  of  the  Lamb 
over  His  great  enemy,  the  Roman  Beast,  the  symbol  of 
its  world-ruling  metropolis,  the  "Mother  of  Harlots;" 
He  had  heard  the  thunders  of  judgment,  and  the  wails  of 
the  judged,  but  now  a  mighty  sound  of  rejoicing  comes 
from  the  celestial  regions.  "A  great  voice  of  a  great 
multitude  in  heaven"  seemed  to  fill  the  skies,  and  he 
seemed  to  hear  the  very  words  of  their  anthem ,  "  Halle- 
lujah !  salvation,  and  glory,  and  power  belong  to  our  God  :  ^ 

1  Rev.  xi.  13.  2  i^^  ji  2  ;  Micah  iv.  1  ff.  3  j„gi  jij^  ]2  fj^ 

'^  Rev.  xvi.  12  ;  xvii.  16.  ^  j^ev.  xix.  1-10. 


372  THE  APOCALYPSE 

for  true  and  righteous  are  His  judgments,"  just  seen  ;  "  for 
He  has  judged  the  great  harlot,  who  corrupted  the  earth 
with  her  fornication,  and  He  has"  thus  "  avenged  the  blood 
of  His  servants  at  her  hand.  Hallelujah  !  "  "  the  smoke 
of  her  burning  rising,  indeed,  for  ever  and  ever,"  before 
their  eyes.^  All  nature,  in  truth,  rejoices  at  her  destruc- 
tion, for  now,  the  four-and-twenty  elders  rising  from  their 
thrones,  as  the  representatives  of  all  the  redeemed,  and 
the  four  living  creatures,  the  emblems  of  all  animate 
creation,  fall  down  and  worship  God,  who  sits  on  the 
throne, — crying,  Amen,  Hallelujah  !  Then,  from  the  throne 
itself,  John  hears  a  voice,  saying,  "Give  praise  to  our 
God,  all  ye  His  servants,  ye  that  fear  Him,  the  small  and 
the  great,''  and  forthwith,  in  answer,  there  seems  to  rise 
"  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  like  the  sound  of  many 
waters  and  of  mighty  thunders,  saying,  Hallelujah !  for 
the  Lord  our  God,  the  Almighty,  reigneth.  Let  us  rejoice 
and  be  exceeding  glad,  and  let  us  give  the  glory  to  Him : 
for  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  His  wife  has 
made  herself  ready."  Jesus  had  Himself  compared  His 
relation  to  His  people  with  that  of  a  bridegroom  to  a  bride, ^ 
and  the  marriage  bond  was  a  frequent  metaphor  with 
the  prophets,  for  the  tender  union  between  God  and 
Israel.^ 

This  sweet  image,  incorporated  in  John's  vision,  brings 
before  him,  now,  a  glimpse  of  the  heavenly  bride  — 
the  host  of  the  redeemed — in  her  wedding  robes.  White 
linen,  of  the  finest,  "bright  and  pure,"  is  her  simple 
but  perfect  adornment — given  then,  we  are  told,  as  a 
symbol  of  "  the  righteous  acts  of  the  saints,"  which,  we 

^  Rev.  xix.  3 ;  xviii.  9,  18.       ^  Matt.  xxii.  1 ;  xxv.  1 ;  ix.  15. 
3  Isa.  Ixii.  5  ;  Jer.  iii.  14;  xxxi.  32  ;  Hos.  ii.  19,  20. 


THE  ArPEARING   AND   VICTORY   OF   CHRIST  373 

have  been  already  assured,  follow  those  who  die  in  the 
Lord/  to  their  eternal  rest. 

The  angel's  voice  is  now  again  heard,  telling  John  to 
write — "  Blessed  are  they  who  are  bidden  to  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb ; "  words  which  remind  us  of  some  we 
have  of  our  Lord's,  and  hinting  at  others  which  must 
have  been  then  current  in  the  traditions  of  the  churches.- 
Then  he  added,  "These  are  true  words  of  God" — their 
fulfilment  is  assured. 

The  dazzling  glory  of  the  heavenly  speaker,  the  gran- 
deur of  the  whole  vision,  and  the  rapture  at  the  prospect 
of  eternal  union  with  Christ,  were  more  than  John  could 
calmly  bear,  so  that  now  he  seemed,  in  his  vision,  to  fall 
down  at  the  feet  of  the  angel,  to  worship  him.  But  this 
was  instantly  forbidden.  "  See  thou  do  it  not,"  said  the 
shining  one ;  "  I  am  a  fellow-servant  with  thee  and  with 
thy  brethren  who  hold  fast  the  testimony  of  Jesus  ;  wor- 
ship God,  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus"  to  God's  eternal 
purposes  of  grace,  "  is  the  spirit  " — the  living  breath — "  of 
(this)  prophecy  "  (or  book,  which  thou  art  now  writing.  It 
is  Christ,  who  has  sent  and  signified,  through  me  and  my 
fellow-angels,  for  the  comfort  of  the  churches,  what  must 
shortly  come  to  pass — the  revelation  to  them  of  the 
steps  heralding  His  speedy  advent — and  the  disclosure  of 
this,  God  gave  Him,  in  the  seven-sealed  book  which  thou 
sawest  Him  open).^ 

This  scene  having,  in  its  turn,  faded  away,  as  in  the 
changing  pictures  of  our  own  visions  of  the  night :  the 
seer,  looking  into  the  deep  sapphire  heavens  of  the 
Archipelago,  sees  them,  as  it  were,  open  anew,  and  show 

^  Rev.  xiv.  13.  ^  L^ke  xiv.  15,  16  ;  Matt.  xxii.  2. 

3  Rev.  i.  1-3  ;  v.  1-7. 


374  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  far-off  eternal  regions.  In  the  early  passages  of  his 
visions  he  had  seen,  when  the  Lamb  opened  the  first  seal 
of  the  Book  of  Destiny,  a  crowned  rider  going  out,  bow 
in  hand,  on  a  white  horse,  "  conquering  and  to  conquer ; " 
an  emblem,  we  may  think,  of  the  Lamb,  Himself ;  for  the 
Lamb  alone  was  competent  to  open  the  seals  of  the  awful 
roll  of  the  purposes  of  God,  though  the  bow,  so  far  as  I 
remember,  is  not  elsewhere  connected  with  the  Messiah. 
Yet,  in  the  Lamentations,  Jehovah  is  poetically  said  to 
have  ''  bent  His  bow  like  an  enemy  "  against  Jerusalem, 
and  hence  John  might  easily  transfer  it  to  Christ,  when 
conceived  as  a  warrior  for  His  people.  Nor  is  it  infrequent, 
in  the  contradictions  and  fanciful  combinations  of  a  vision, 
— our  own  experience  being  witness, — to  meet  a  double 
appearance,  in  opposite  surroundings,  of  the  same  form ; 
so  that  Jesus  may,  in  this  case,  have  been  indicated ;  for, 
assuredly,  He  rides  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer. 
Whether,  however,  this  be  so,  or  that  image  stand  for  an 
earthly  power,  Parthian  or  other,  John  now  sees,  in 
heaven,  one  who  is  unquestionably  the  Messiah,  seated  on 
a  white  horse,  and  he  learns  that  His  name  is  "  Faithful 
and  True"  —  at  once,  in  keeping  His  promises  to  His 
people,  and  as  indeed  the  promised  Saviour,  coming  forth 
to  fulfil,  by  His  triumph,  all  the  predictions  of  old,  respect- 
ing the  Anointed  of  God.  Isaiah  had  said  of  "  The  Eoot 
of  David" — a  name  used  in  the  Apocalypse  for  Christ,^ 
"  With  righteousness  shall  He  judge  the  poor,  and  He  shall 
smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of  His  mouth,  and  with  the 
breath  of  His  lips  shall  He  slay  the  wicked."  ^  In  keeping 
with  this,  John  tells  us,  that  He  would  judge  and  make 
war  in  righteousness — true  to  the  right,  alike  in  defending 

1  Rev.  V.  5.  ^  Isa.  xi.  4. 


THE  APPEARING  AND  VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  375 

His  saints  and  in  crushing  their  enemies.  His  eyes  had 
twice  before  been  compared  to  a  flame  of  fire,  and  this  is 
now  repeated.^  But  while,  in  former  visions,  He  wore 
only  a  single  crown,^  He  now  wears  many,  as  the  "  King 
of  kings ; "  ^  monarchs  in  those  times,  often  wearing  more 
crowns  than  one,  to  show  their  sovereignty  over  different 
realms,as  Ptolemy  wore  two  on  entering  Antioch;  the  crown 
of  Asia  and  that  of  Egypt.*  All  these  crowns,  in  the  case 
of  The  Faithful  and  True,  were,  moreover,  His  alone ;  not 
as  in  those  of  the  great  dragon  and  the  Beast,  each  head 
or  horn  of  which  had  only  one.^  Were  these  crowns  an 
anticipation  of  His  presently  wearing  all  those  of  the 
enemies  He  was  about  to  destroy  ?  He  had  once  stood  in 
the  guard-room  of  Pilate,  scourged  and  bleeding,  with  the 
scarlet  cloak  of  a  soldier  thrown  over  Him  in  mockery  of 
an  imperial  robe,  and  a  crown  of  thorns  about  His  brows ; 
but  now  !  ^  A  mysterious  name,  seen,  but  not  yet,  at  least, 
to  be  grasped  by  any  one,  stood  out,  perhaps  on  His  fore- 
head, like  the  seal  of  God  on  the  forehead  of  the  saints. 

Isaiah  had  seen  the  Deliverer  of  the  nation  "coming 
from  Edom  and  Bozrah ;  bearing  Himself  proudly  in  the 
greatness  of  His  strength,  mighty  to  save ;  His  apparel 
red,  like  those  of  the  treader  of  the  purple  grapes  of  the 
wine  vat,  with  the  blood  of  the  foes  of  His  people,  whom 
He  has  trodden  under  foot  in  His  anger,  and  trampled  upon 
in  His  fury," ''  and  so,  the  visionary  spectacle  opening 
sublimely  before  John,  shows  him  Jesus, the  Messiah,  robed, 
as  He  sits  on  the  white  horse,  in  a  garment  bespattered 
with  blood.^     His  name,  moreover,  he  is  told,  is  the  Word 

1  Rev.  I  14  ;  ii.  18.  ^  j^^^^  ^i  2.  3  Rev.  xix.  16. 

■^  1  Mace.  xi.  13.  ^  Rev.  xii.  3  ;  xiii.  1.         ^  Mark  xv.  17. 

7  Isa.  Ixiii.  1-3.  »  Rev,  xj^.  13. 


376  THE  APOCALYPSE 

of  God — that  name  used  by  the  fourth  Gospel  to  indicate 
Christ's  divinity,^  as  the  eternally  pre-existing,  and  omni- 
potent revelation  of  the  Godhead,  carrying  out  the  divine 
will  in  creation  and  Providence ;  a  name  borrowed  from 
rabbinical  theology,  but  adopted  by  the  Alexandrian 
Christian  school. 

Behind  this  awful  leader  rode  the  heavenly  armies,  also 
on  white  horses,  the  colour  of  those  on  which  victors  rode 
in  the  great  Eoman  triumphs — arrayed  in  fine  linen, 
white  and  pure — the  symbol  at  once  of  their  righteous- 
ness ^  and  of  their  coming  victory.  Out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  *'  Word,"  their  Head,  in  harmony  with  the  image  of 
Isaiah,  proceeded  a  sharp  sword ;  a  metaphor  found  also 
in  the  earlier  visions  of  the  seer  himself.^  With  this  he 
was  about  to  smite  the  heathen  nations  ;*  ruling  them,  as 
we  are  told,  in  words  taken  from  the  Psalms,^  and  as  John 
has  already  twice  said,  "  with  a  rod  of  iron,"  ^  and,  in  the 
language  of  Old  Testament  imagery  '•  treading  the  wine- 
press of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of  Almighty  God."^ 
To  complete  the  picture,  it  is  added,  that  He  had  on  His 
girdle,  keeping  together  His  garment,  and  resting  on  His 
thigh,  a  second  name  written,  "King  of  kings  and  Lord 

OF  LOUDS." 

Of  the  descent  to  earth  of  this  celestial  army,  under  its 
great  Leader,  the  seer  makes  no  mention,  but  St.  Paul's 
conception  of  it  aids  us  where  John  is  silent.  The  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  sees,  in  spirit,  "  the  Lord  Jesus  revealed 
from  heaven  with  His  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire,"  "  for 
the  Lord  Himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout " 

^  John  i.  1  and  x.  ^  j^gv.  xix.  8.  ^  E,ev,  i.  16  ;  ii.  12. 

^  Isa.  xi.  4.  ^  Ps.  ii.  9.  ^  Rev.  ii.  27  ;  xii   5. 

7  Rev.  xiv.  10,  19  ;  Isa.  Ii.  22  j  Ps.  Ixxv.  9. 


THE   APPEARING  AND  VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  377 

of  command,  to  His  hosts, "  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel, 
and  with  the  trumpet  of  God."  ^ 

Where  the  great  battle  was  to  be  joined  is  left  in  the 
same  mysterious  vagueness,  but  its  pitiless  carnage  is  pre- 
announced  by  an  angel,  who  shines  out  from  amidst  the 
inferior  splendour  of  the  sun,  and,  in  the  language  of 
Ezekiel,^  in  his  vision  of  a  similar  overthrow  of  the  enemies 
of  God,  summons,  "  with  a  loud  voice,"  all  the  ravenous 
birds  to  come  to  "  the  great  supper  of  God,  that  they  may 
eat  the  flesh  of  kings,  captains,  and  mighty  men,  and  of 
horses  and  their  riders,  and  of  all  men,  both  free  and 
slave,  and  small  and  great."  ^  The  unburied  slain  were  to 
be  eaten  by  wild  beasts  and  obscene  birds ;  the  most 
terrible  indignity  that  could  be  shown  the  dead  in  anti- 
quity, and  the  world  was  to  be  left  unpeopled,  for  "  all 
men  "  were  to  perish ;  except,  of  course,  those  on  Christ's 
side. 

In  accordance  with  this,  the  Beast,  that  is,  Nero,  having 
wreaked  vengeance  on  Eome,  and  having,  finally,  "  burnt  it 
utterly  with  fire,"  is  now  seen  turning,  once  more,  against 
Christ  and  His  saints ;  the  dragon,  Satan,  using  him  still 
as  his  willing  instrument.  But  the  battle  goes  sore  against 
him,  for  he  himself  is  taken,  and  with  him,  the  false 
prophet,  who  by  his  illusive  "  signs  "  had  deceived  men  to 
worship  him  and  wear  his  mark.  These  two  are  cast,  alive, 
into  the  lake  of  fire  that  burns  with  brimstone.  The  rest, 
however,  who  fell,  simply  pass,  as  disembodied  shades,  into 
Hades;  to  await  the  general  judgment  at  the  final  resurrec- 
tion ;  the  birds,  meanwhile,  being  gorged  with  their  flesh.'* 

But  the  end  was  not  yet.^     An  angel  now  descends,  in 

1  2  Thess.  i.  7,  8  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16.  -  Ezek.  xxxix.  4,  17-20. 

*  Rev.  xix.  17  tf.  "*  Rev.  xix.  21.  ^  jj^gy^  j^  i_^^ 


378  THE  APOCALYPSE 

the  vision,  from  heaven,  with  the  key  of  the  abyss, — the 
bottomless  pit,  the  gloomy  realm  of  devils.  Besides  the 
key,  he  carries  a  great  chain,  and  having  bound  Satan 
with  it,  casts  him  down  the  month  of  the  awful  prison, 
shutting  and  sealing  it  over  him ;  not  to  be  reopened  for 
a  thousand  years.  For  that  time,  therefore,  he  would  be 
unable  to  deceive  the  nations  any  more,  but  after  that, 
the  mysterious  providence  of  God  would  let  him  loose 
again  for  a  little  while. 

The  conception  of  a  reign  of  Christ  on  earth  for  a 
thousand  years  is  peculiar  to  the  Apocalypse.  We  read 
of  angels,  when  they  sinned,  being  cast  down  into  hell, 
and  committed  to  pits  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  to 
judgment,^  and  of  angels  who  kept  not  their  own  princi- 
pality, but  (mutinously)  left  their  proper  habitation ; 
being  kept  by  God  in  everlasting  bonds,  under  dark- 
ness, unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day;^  but  a  tem- 
porary imprisonment  of  Satan  is  found  only  in  this  book. 
It  appears  to  be  related  to  the  Jewish  idea  that  there 
would  be  a  Sabbath  for  the  world,  as  for  creation  at  first ; 
each  world-day  being  reckoned  as  a  thousand  years,^  and 
the  world-Sabbath  being  Isaiah's  "  year  of  the  redeemed."  ^ 
The  Second  Book  of  Esdras,  which  is  of  the  same  date  as 
the  Apocalypse,  and,  like  it,  is  the  work  of  a  Jewish- 
Christian,  has,  indeed,,  something  akin  to  this  millennium, 
though  its  duration  is  shorter.  Jesus  is  to  be  revealed, 
with  His  saints,  and  will  rejoice  those  who  remain  alive 
on  earth,  four  hundred  years.  But  after  that  time.  He 
is  to  die,  with  all  who  have  the  breath  of  life,  and  the 
world  will  lie  in  Sabbath  rest,  "  in  the  old  silence,  as  in 
the  first  beginning ; "  man  no  longer  existing  on  it,  and 

1  2  Pet.  ii.  4.         2  juj^  q^         3  -pi^Ho,  Leg  All.  i.  2.     *  Isa.  Ixiii.  4. 


THE  APPEARING  AND  VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  379 

the  resurrection  will  come,  and  the  final  judgment,  after 
seven  days,  that  is,  thousand-year  periods.^ 

During  these  thousand  years  of  Satan's  imprisonment, 
Christ,  we  are  told,  is  to  reign  with  his  saints^  in  "the 
beloved  city  ; "  for  Jerusalem,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
delivered  from  the  Eoman  armies,  and  received  again  into 
God's  favour,  on  its  repenting,  after  the  death  of  the  two 
witnesses.^  But  this  reign  of  Christ  is  to  be  shared  only 
by  those  who  had  been  "  beheaded  for  the  testimony  of 
Jesus,  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and  by  such  as  had  not 
worshipped  the  Beast  or  his  image,  or  received  his  mark 
on  their  forehead  or  hand."  These  are  to  be  raised  from 
the  dead,  and  live  and  reign  with  Christ,  during  the 
millennium — their  restoration  to  life  being  a  "first  re- 
surrection"— for  the  rest  of  the  dead  were  not  to  rise 
till  the  thousand  years  were  over.^  Thrones  are  now 
seen  in  the  vision,  but  it  does  not  say  how  many,  nor 
who  sat  on  them,  though  we  may,  perhaps,  gather  this 
from  other  allusions  to  the  Messianic  kingdom.  Daniel 
sees  the  Ancient  of  Days,  throned  in  "  the  kingdom  of  the 
saints,"  ^  which  is  handed  over  to  one  in  human  form,  "  like 
a  son  of  man,"^  who  ''came  to  the  Ancient  of  Days  with 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  was  brought  before  Him."  Our 
Lord,  moreover,  tells  us  that  the  apostles,  "in  the  re- 
generation, when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne 
of  His  glory,  shall  also  sit  on  twelve  thrones,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  ^  But  as  the  partakers  of  this 
first  resurrection  must  embrace  members  of  all  races,  one 
thinks  naturally  of  the  twenty-four  throned  elders  who 

'  2  Esrlras  vii.  28  S.,  K.V.  ^  Rgv.  xx.  4,  9.  ^  Rev.  xi.  13  ;  xiv.  20. 

*  Rev.  XX.  4-7.        ^  Dan.  vii.  9,  13,  14,  18,  22,  27.        «  Revised  Version. 

^  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  Luke  xxii.  30. 


380  THE   APOCALYPSE 

represent  the  saved  of  all  ages,  and  may  suppose  that  the 
Patriarchs  of  the  old  Economy  now  shared  a  like  glory 
with  the  Apostles,  so  as  to  make  up  twenty-four  thrones 
in  all.  But,  all  alike,  in  that  interval  of  heavenly  joy  on 
earth,  are  "  blessed  and  holy."  They  die  no  more,  having 
once  died  "in  the  Lord,"  nor  are  they  in  any  danger  of 
the  second,  eternal  death,  at  the  final  judgment ;  beginning 
their  immortal  felicity  at  once,  and  reigning  with  Christ 
as  priests  of  God  and  the  Lamb.^ 

But  this  happy  time  wears  away,  and  the  drama  of  the 
world  is  to  be  closed  with  a  tremendous  outburst  of  Satanic 
violence,  ending  in  the  final  overthrow  of  Satan,  and  the 
last  judgment,  deciding  all  things,  for  eternity.  The 
millennium  seems  to  expire  during  the  brief  trance  of  the 
seer,  in  the  strange  dream-land  of  vision ;  for  in  sleep  or 
the  ecstatic  condition  related  to  it,  there  is  no  sense  of 
duration.  Time  is  only  a  thought,  in  visions.  The  thou- 
sand years  of  Satan's  imprisonment  seeming,  therefore, 
to  be  over,  John  tells  us,  he  was  loosed,  and  came  up  to  the 
earth  again,  to  deceive  the  "  nations  in  the  four  corners 
of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Magog,  to  gather  them  together  to 
the  war"  against  "  the  camp  of  the  saints,  and  the  beloved 
city  "2 — Jerusalem;  their  number  being  "as  the  sand  of 
the  sea."^  Thus,  though  the  angel  had  summoned  the 
vultures  to  "  eat  the  flesh  of  all  men,"  *  it  must  be  assumed 
that  mankind  had  not  wholly  perished  in  the  war  against 
Nero  and  his  supporters ;  ^  these  new  assailants  of  the 
Christians  being  represented  as  remote  Scythian  nations, 
the  Gog  and  Magog  of  the  Old  Testament,  who  must  be 
assumed  as.  dwelling  outside  the  sphere  of  that  terrible 

1  Isa.  Ixi.  6  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  9  ;  Rev.  i.  6  ;  v.  10. 
«  Rev.  XX.  7,  10.        3  Rev.  xx.  7,  10.       •*  Rev.  xix.  18.        «  Rev.  xix.  19. 


THE   APPEARING   AND   VICTORY   OF   CHRIST  381 

visitation.  The  two  names,  indeed,  represent  all  the  so- 
called  barbarous  peoples  in  the  farthest  north  and  north- 
east of  the  then  known  world,  and  are  reproduced  here 
from  a  vision  of  Ezekiel.^  In  that,  they  represent  the 
heathen  at  large,  who  seek  to  destroy  Israel,  purified  by  its 
sufferings  in  Babylon,  and  restored  to  its  own  land  by 
the  Messiah,  and  thus  the  fit  emblem  of  the  Israel  of 
the  Apocalypse  purified  by  the  woes  of  the  Eoman  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  from  which  they  are  represented  as  delivered 
by  the  hosts  of  Christ.  It  is  curious  to  notice  that  they 
play  a  similar  part  in  Jewish  theology  as  in  that  of  John, 
for  the  Jerusalem  Targum  says,^  "  In  the  end  of  the  last 
days,  Gog  and  Magog  and  their  armies  will  go  up  against 
Jerusalem,  and  will  fall  by  the  hands  of  the  King  Messiah, 
and  the  sons  of  Israel  will  be  busied  in  burning  their 
arms,  every  day,  for  seven  years."  This  rabbinical  fancy 
must  have  thus  been  known  to  John. 

On  these  outlying  nations  the  devil  sets  his  last  hope. 
It  was  his  dearest  work,  to  "  go  forth  to  the  kings  of  the 
whole  world,  to  gather  them  together  to  the  war  of  the 
great  day  of  God,  the  Almighty.^  Once  more  he  had 
been  successful,  and  had  stirred  up  the  peoples  afar  off, 
to  invade  Palestine,  the  realm  of  the  Messiah.  Marching 
thither  across  distant  lands,  they  at  last ''  compass  about " 
the  camp  of  the  saints ;  so  called,  perhaps,  in  remem- 
brance of  a  similar  name  for  the  wilderness  camp  of 
Israel,*  and  beleaguered  "  the  beloved  city."  But  their  fate 
was  not  delayed,  for  John  sees  fire  come  down  out  of 

*  The  Assyrian  inscriptions  show  that  "  Gng "  is  a  transformation  of 
Gyges,  the  Lydian  king  ;  Magog  being  only  a  corruption  of  it.  But  the 
Hebrews,  knowing  nothing  of  these  far-off  lands,  applied  the  two  names 
as  I  have  said,  in  the  text.     Ezek.  xxxviii,,  xxxix. 

*  On  Num.  xi.  27.  ^  Rev.  xvi.  14.  ^  Deut.  xxiii.  14. 


382  THE  APOCALYPSE 

heaven,  and  devour  them.  The  last  attempt  to  injure 
the  people  of  God  had  thus  failed.  Jerusalem  had  long 
before  been  chastened  and  won  to  Christ ;  Kome  had  been 
blotted  from  the  face  of  the  earth;  the  Beast  and  the 
false  prophet  had  been  cast  into  the  abyss ;  the  Jewish- 
Christian  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  had  flourished  in  Jeru- 
salem for  a  thousand  years;  the  final  attack  on  it  by 
Satan,  the  dragon,  had  been  defeated;  it  only  remained 
to  remove  the  devil  from  the  earth,  and  to  keep  him, 
henceforth,  from  ever  troubling  the  peace  of  the  redeemed. 
To  effect  this,  the  great  deceiver,  who  had  been  the  in- 
spiring soul  of  all  the  enmity  of  Eome,  was  now  finally 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where,  already, 
were  the  Beast  and  the  false  prophet;  and  there,  adds 
John,  ''  they  will  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and 
ever."  There  remains  only  the  final  judgment,  to  close 
the  story  of  the  world ! 

The  burden  of  the  Apocalypse,  now  virtually  ended, 
thus  shows  that  John  had  no  idea  that  Jerusalem  would 
be  destroyed  immediately,  and  that  he  regarded  Eome 
as  so  thoroughly  moribund,  that  both  the  empire  and  city 
w^ould  perish  in  the  anticipated  return  of  Nero :  that  is, 
within  so  many  months;  for  the  time  before  Christ's  return, 
when  all  this  was  to  happen,  was  "  short " ;  He  would 
"  come  quickly,"^  and  "  the  time  was  at  hand."  An  earthly 
world-kingdom  of  the  Messiah  was  to  take  the  place  of 
the  "  great  Babylon  "  for  a  thousand  years,  during  which 
the  martyrs  and  confessors  of  Christ,  raised  from  the  dead, 
were  to  reign  with  Him  at  Jerusalem.  Then  would  come 
the  last  struggle  of  Satan,  and  after  that,  the  General 
Eesurrection  and  the  Great  Judgment  would  see  the  fall 

1  Rev.  i.  1  ;  iii.  11. 


THE   APPEARING  AND   VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  383 

of  the  curtain  on  our  earth.  But,  as  we  shall  see,  a  new 
earth,  canopied  by  new  heavens,  was  to  appear,  in  the 
place  of  the  heaven  and  earth  over  and  round  us  now,  which 
would  then  have  "  fled  away  from  before  the  face  of  Him 
who  sat  on  the  great  white  throne."  In  the  same  way, 
"  new  heavens,  and  a  new  earth,"  in  which  only  righteous- 
ness would  dwell,  are  anticipated  by  St.  Peter  ;^  our 
present  heavens  passing  away  with  a  great  noise ;  the 
heavenly  bodies  in  it  being  melted  into  vapour  by  fer- 
vent heat,  and  the  earth  and  everything  on  it  burned 
up,  in  the  "  day  of  the  Lord,"  the  "  end  of  all  things," 
which,  in  common  with  all  Christians  of  his  generation, 
he  believed  to  be  "  at  hand."  ^  St.  Peter,  thus,  like  John, 
must  have  thought  this  world  would  be  the  scene  of  our 
eternal  felicity,  so  that  both  appear  to  have  differed  from 
St.  Paul,  about  the  future  home  of  the  redeemed ;  for  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  tells  the  Corinthians  that  "we 
shall  not  all  sleep  " — that  is,  die, — "  but  we  shall  all  be 
changed,  in  a  moment,  at  the  last  trump  :  for  the  trumpet 
shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible, 
and  we  "  who  are  still  alive  "shall  be  changed."  ^  Or,  as 
he  says  elsewhere,  "  by  the  word  of  the  Lord."  "  We  that 
are  alive  and  are  left " — that  is,  survive — "  till  the  comino- 
of  the  Lord,  shall  not  in  any  way  have  the  advantage 
over  those  who  have  died.  For  the  Lord  Himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the 
archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God  :  and  the  dead  in 
Christ  shall  rise  first :  then,  we  who  are  alive,  that  are 
left"  in  the  body,  "shall,  together  with  them,  be  caught 
up  "n  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air:  and  so 

^   2Pet.  iii.  10-13.  -  1  Pet.  iv.  7. 

^  1  Cor.  XV.  52. 


384  THE  APOCALYPSE 

shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord."  ^  Yet  St.  Peter,  though 
he  speaks  thus  of  the  paradise  of  a  new  earth  in  which  only 
righteousness  will  dwell,  speaks,  also,  of  our  inheritance 
being  reserved  in  heaven,  incorruptible,  undefiled  and 
unfading,^  just  as  Paul  calls  it  ''  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light,"  ^  or  as  our  Lord  says,  "  In  My  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions ;  I  go,"  from  earth,  "  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you,  and  I  come  again  and  will  receive  you  unto 
Myself ;  that  where  I  am  ye  may  be  also."  ^  But  we  shall 
meet  this  subject  again,  when  we  have  before  us  John's 
description  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

All  foes  vanquished ;  the  heathen  world-empire  a  dream 
of  the  long  past ;  the  site  of  Piome  a  place  for  the  wild 
beasts  and  satyrs  of  the  wilderness ;  Antichrist  himself 
cast  into  the  pit :  the  distant  heathen  nations  consumed 
by  fire  from  heaven;  Satan  and  the  hierarchy  of  "false 
prophets,"  or,  as  we  now  say,  "  teachers,"  thrown  into  the 
abyss ;  Jerusalem  glorified  by  the  reign  of  Christ  in  it  for 
a  thousand  years,  surrounded  by  His  holy  martyrs  and 
confessors,  raised  from  the  dead  to  form  His  millennial 
kingdom ;  it  only  remained  to  bring  the  story  of  the  past 
to  a  close  by  the  Final  Judgment ;  to  award  rewards  to 
the  righteous,  and  punishment  to  the  unworthy.  The 
earth  was  desolate,  without  an  inhabitant ;  those  only 
having  been  preserved  from  the  grave,  who,  as  partakers 
of  the  first  resurrection,  had  gathered  round  their  Lord 
at  Jerusalem.  All  mankind,  therefore,  who  had  ever 
lived,  with  the  insignificant  exception  of  the  saints  of  the 
millennium,  were  now  to  be  brought  back  to  life,  to  stand 
before  the  Judge. 

1  1  Thess.  iv.  15-18.  2  I  Pet.  j.  4.  »  Col.  i.  12. 

*  John  xiv.  2,  3. 


THE   APPEARING   AND   VICTORY   OF   CHRIST  385 

Of  this  sublime  consummation  a  dream- picture   was 
now  vouchsafed  to  John.     In  his  prophetic  trance  there 
appeared  a  Great  White  Throne,  and  Him  who  sat  on  it. 
There  had  been  other  thrones  ^  in  the  same  vision,  but, 
though  glowing  beyond  thought,  they  were  as  nothing  com- 
pared to  this :  at  once  so  great,  and  so  white  with  glory. 
With  the  awe  of  a  Jew,  he  shrinks,  as  in  the  past,^  from 
naming  God,  the  Judge,^  of  whose  majesty  and  holiness 
it  spoke.     Daniel  had  revealed  the  great  Judge  as  "  the 
Ancient  of   Days,"*  and  John   in    the    opening   of   the 
Apocalypse  had  heard  Him  proclaiming  Himself  as  the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  w^ho 
is,  and  who  was,  and  who  is  to  come,  the  Lord  God,  the 
Almighty.^     But  though,  thus,  in  John's  vision,  the  seat 
on  the  throne  is  taken  by  ''God";  Christ  is  constantly 
represented   elsewhere,   as   actually   presiding.      "  God," 
says  Paul,  "  shall,  in  that  day,  judge  the  secrets  of  men, 
by   Jesus   Christ."  ^     "  We   shall   all   stand    before    the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ."     "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead  at  His  appearing."  ^     Jesus,  Him- 
self, indeed,  tells  us  that  when  He,  "the  Son  of  man, 
shall  come  in  His  glory  and  all  the  angels  with  Him, 
then  shall  He  sit  on  the  throne  of  His  glory,  and  before 
Him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations."  ^     Yet,  in  Hebrews, 
"  God  "  is  named  as  "  the  Judge  of  all,"  ^  so  that  the  names 
of  God  and  our  Lord  are  used  interchangeably,  as  equiva- 
lents.    From  before  the  awful  splendours  of  the  face  of 
this  Almighty  Judge,  the  earth  and  the  heaven  seemed, 

^  Rev.  XX.  4.  ^  Rev.  iv.  2.  3  ^^.y  ^x.  12. 

*  Dan.  vii.  9.  ^  j^^v.  xxi.  6  ;  i.  8.  ^  jj^m.  ii.  16. 

7  Kom.  xiv.  10  ;  2  Cor.  v.  10  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  1.  «  Matt.  xxv.  31,  32. 

»  Heb.  xii.  23. 
IV.  2b 


386  THE  APOCALYPSE 

in  the  vision,  to   flee  away,  "and  there  was  found  no 
place  for  them."     In  Shakspere's  words — 

"...  Like  the  baseless  fabric  of  this  vision, 
The  cloiid-capp'd  towers,  the  gori^eous  palaces, 
The  solemn  temples,  the  great  globe  itself, 
Yea,  all  which  it  inherit,  shall  dissolve. 
And,  like  this  insubstantial  pageant  faded, 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind." 

The  throne  must  therefore  have  stood  in  mid-air. 
St.  Peter  predicts  the  same  ending  of  our  world,  for  he 
says,  "it  is  reserved  against  the  day  of  judgment,  to  be 
then  destroyed  by  fire,"  ^  and  "  the  heavens,  being  thus  on 
fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  heavenly  bodies  shall 
melt  with  fervent  heat. ' 

In  the  vast  emptiness,  inconceivable  to  us,  the  dead, 
small  and  great,  were  now  seen  standing  before  the 
throne — kings  and  slaves  in  one  great  multitude  ;  their 
earthly  distinctions  forgotten.  Presently  "  the  books 
were  opened,  in  which  the  deeds  of  all  men  had  been 
recorded,^  and,  with  them,  another— the  Book  of  Life — 
in  which  were  inscribed  the  names  of  all  who  were 
deemed  worthy  of  the  citizenship  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
By  these  books  the  dead  were  judged,  ''out  of,  those 
things  written  in  them,  according  to  their  works."  ^ 
"  And  the  sea,"  we  are  told,  "  gave  up  the  dead  which 
were  in  it ;  and  Death  and  Hades  gave  up  the  dead  which 
were  in  them ;  and  they  were  judged,  every  man  accord- 
ing to  their  works."*  John  does  not  speak  of  the  trump 
of  God,  or  the  shout  of  the  archangel,  waking  the  myriad 
dead,^  but  has  before  Him  only  the  final  scene.     Death 

1  2  Pet.  iii.  7,  12.       ^  j^ai.  iii.  16 ;  Ps.  Ivi.  8  ;  Isa.  Ixv.  6;  Rev.  xx.  12. 
»  Rev.  iii.  5  ;  xiii.  8  ;  xvii.  8.  *  Rev.  xx.  13. 

»  1  Cor.  XV.  52  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16. 


THE  APPEAraNG  AND  VICTORY  OF  CHRIST  387 

was  the  last  enemy  to  be  destroyed.^  Personified,  with 
Hades,  as  a  demoniac  power,  both  are  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire,  which  is  called  "  the  second  death,"  and,  with 
them,  all  who  were  not  found  written  in  the  Book  of 
Life.  This  fearful  place  of  torment  is  mentioned  also  in 
the  Book  of  Enoch,  and  was  thus,  evidently,  a  popular 
conception  of  the  age.-  Then  the  curtain  falls,  for  the 
time,  on  empty  space,  from  which  heaven  and  earth  have 
alike  vanished  away. 

1  1  Cor.  XV.  26.  Enoch  -c.  1Q 


CHAPTEE  XVI 

THE    NEW    JERUSALEM 

All  the  foes  of  the  Lamb  and  His  followers  being,  at  last, 
destroyed  for  ever,  John  is  able  to  present  to  the 
churches  the  revelation  which  it  is  the  pervading  and 
single  aim  of  his  book  to  disclose — the  eternal  completion 
of  "  the  mystery  of  God,  according  to  the  good  tidings 
which  He  had,  through  ages,  declared  to  His  servants 
the  prophets ; "  ^  the  fulfilment  of  all  the  promises  made 
by  our  Lord  to  the  suffering  Christians  to  whom  John 
writes ;  their  support  in  all  their  trials,  and  the  object  of 
their  most  earnest  hopes.  He  has  told  fully  the  doom  of 
the  enemies  of  the  Church ;  it  only  remains  to  tell  the  bliss 
which  was  now  to  be  enjoyed  by  all  its  faithful  members.^ 
A  new  scene  therefore  opens.  The  first  heaven  and 
the  first  earth  had  passed  away,  and  the  sea  no  more 
existed.  The  redeemed  must  be  conceived  as,  for  the 
time,  with  Christ,  in  the  upper  heavens,  but  now  John 
sees  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  rise  into  being, 
whether  with  or  without  a  new  sea,  is  not  told.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  the  hatred  of  the  sea  by  the  Jews, 
from  their  having  been  kept  from  having  seaports, 
through  the  strength  of  the  peoples  of  the  Palestine 
coast  plain,  may  have  kept  him  from  mentioning  an 
ocean  as  part  of  the  new  creation.  Isaiah  had  spoken, 
like  John,   of  "new  heavens  and   a   new   earth,"  ^  and 

1  Kev.  X.  7.  -  Rev.  xxi.  1  tf.  3  Isa.  Ixv.  17 ;  Ivi.  22. 

388 


THE  NEW   JERUSALEM  389 

Apocryphal  books  current  in  John's  day  repeated  the 
thought,  as  we  see  in  the  Book  of  Enoch,  and  in  Second 
Esdras,^  and  Christ  had  spoken  of  the  "  regeneration,"  or 
renewal,  of  all  things,  in  His  kingdom  on  earth,^  so  that 
the  idea  was  familiar  in  the  apostolic  age. 

A  fresh  wonder,  however,  arrests  the  eyes  of  the  seer. 
It  was  a  cherished  and  constantly  recurring  article  of 
Jewish  theology  that,  after  the  earth  and  heaven  had 
been  renewed,  in  preparation  for  the  kingdom  of  the 
Messiah,  a  New  Jerusalem  would  descend  to  earth  from 
heaven  as  the  capital  of  the  renovated  world,  and  the  royal 
city  of  God's  Anointed.^  "  God  will  renew  His  world," 
says  Sohar,*  "  and  will  build  Jerusalem  (in  heaven),  that 
He  may  cause  it  to  descend  from  heaven  into  the  centre 
of  the  world,  so  that  it  may  never  again  be  destroyed," 
and  in  similar  language  Christ,  Himself,  tells  the  Phila- 
delphian  church,  of  "  the  New  Jerusalem,  which  cometh 
down  out  of  heaven  from  My  God."^  This  wonder  now 
appears  in  John's  vision.  He  sees  "  the  Holy  City,  New 
Jerusalem,  coming  down  out  of  heaven  from  God,"  shining 
out  through  the  surrounding  golden  air — the  effulgence  of 
the  glory  of  God — "  beautified  and  made  ready  for  the 
redeemed,  as  a  bride  is  adorned  for  her  (marriage  to  her) 
husband."  It  is  to  be  the  home  of  the  saints,  and  this 
"  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people  "  is  represented 
as  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb ;  a  sweet  figure  of  the  relation 
of  God  with   His  people,  often  found  in  the  Prophets, 


^  Enoch,  xlv.  4,  5  ;  Ixxii.  1  ;  xci.  14^16  ;  civ.  1-6  ;  2  Esdras  vii.  31. 
2  Matt.  xix.  27. 

■•*  2  Esdras  xiii.  25,  26;  Schottgen,  Hor.  Heh.  i.  12n5;  Hesshom's  Trea- 
sures  of  the  'Talmud,  210. 

*  Sohar,  Gen.  fl.  69.  «»  Rev.  iii.  12. 


390  THE  APOCALYPSE 

and  of  that  of  Christ  with  His  redeemed,  in  the  New 
Testament. 

Meanwhile  a  great  voice  sounds  from  the  throne  pro- 
claiming that  God  will  condescend  to  dwell  among  men ; 
expressing  this  by  the  Oriental  figure  of  His  setting  up 
His  tent  or  tabernacle  in  their  midst ;  words  dear  to  the 
Jew,  as  found  even  in  Leviticus,^  where  God  promises 
Israel  that  He  "  will  set  His  tabernacle  among  them,  and 
will  walk  among  them,  and  be  their  God,  and  they  shall 
be  His  people ;  "  a  promise  repeated  in  Ezekiel.^  "  They 
moreover,"  says  John — like  Israel  of  old,  "  shall  be  His 
peoples" — not  people — "and  God  Himself  shall  be  with 
them  and  be  their  God."  ^  Then,  in  the  beautiful  language 
of  Isaiah,^  it  is  added;  "and  He  shall  wipe  away  every 
tear  from  their  eyes,  and  death  shall  be  no  more ;  neither 
shall  there  be  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain,  any  more," 
or,  as  the  prophet  renders  it,  *'  sorrow  and  sighing  shall 
flee  away,  and  the  voice  of  weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard 
in  her,  nor  the  voice  of  crying,"^  for  "the  first  things," 
John  reminds  us,  "are  passed  away." 

The  voice  of  God,  Himself,  now  again  sounds  from  the 
throne,  proclaiming  that  He  makes  all  things  new.  A 
new  and  purified  heavens  and  earth  were,  indeed,  alone 
fit  for  the  new  dispensation,  now  that  the  old  sinful  state 
of  things  was  gone  for  ever.  This  inauguration  of  the 
New  Messianic  Kingdom,  thus  announced,  an  angel  directs 
John  to  write  down  what  he  has  seen  and  heard,  "for 
these  words  are  faithful  and  true  ; "  thus  giving  the  sorely- 
tried  Christians  the  surest  pledge  that  their  utmost 
hopes  were  fully  justified.     That  they  were  so  is  forth- 

1  Lev.  xxvi.  11,  12.  ^  ^zek.  xliii.  7.  ^  Rev.  xxi.  3. 

*  Isa.  XXV.  8.  ^  Isa.  xxxv.  10;  Ixv.  19. 


THE   NEW   JERUSALEM  391 

with  confirmed  by  the  voice  of  God  Himself,  which  once 
more  breaks  in,  saying,  "  Let  these  things  come  to  pass ! " 
Old  things  had  already  vanished,  and  John  saw,  even 
then,  the  New  Jerusalem  descending  from  the  heavens.^ 
Nor  could  God's  word  be  doubtful,  for  PTe  rehearses  the 
titles  of  His  Majesty  as  "the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
beginning  and  the  end."  ^  As  such,  He  condescends  to 
animate  His  servants  by  tender  promises,  while  denounc- 
ing woes  on  the  unworthy.  "  I  will  give,"  says  He,  in 
words  which  repeat  the  sweet  figure  of  Isaiah^  to  be 
repeated  hereafter,*  "unto  him  that  is  athirst,  of  the 
fountain  of  the  water  of  life  freely ; "  words  grateful  to 
the  inhabitant  of  dry  and  thirsty  lands.  Then,  adopting 
the  words  of  Christ  to  the  churches,^  He  continues,  "  He 
that  overcometh  shall  inherit  these  things,  and  I  will  be 
his  God,  and  he  shall  be  My  son ;  "  words  spoken,  for 
the  Eternal,  long  ages  before,  by  Nathan^  and  by  the 
prophet  Zechariah,  when  Israel  was  under  Persia.'^  The 
unworthy,  on  the  contrary,  will  witness  huge  affliction 
and  dismay.  "But  for  the  fearful,"  who  give  way,  in 
the  battle  with  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  do 
not  overcome,  "and  for  the  unbelieving,  and  those  who 
have  made  themselves  loathsome  by  their  apostasy,  and 
murderers,  and  fornicators,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters, 
and  all  liars,  their  part  shall  be  in  the  lake  that  burnetii 
with  fire  and  brimstone ;  which  is  the  second  death." 

Another  scene  in  the  vision  now  opens.  One  of  the 
seven  angels  who  had  poured  the  seven  last  plagues  on 
the  earth,  seems  to  come  to  John,  and  invites  him  to 
"come  hither,"  it  is  not  said  where,  and  he  would  be 

1  Verse  2.  ^  -^^y   i  g  .  ^xi.  13  ;  Isa.  xliv.  c.       ^  i^^   ^^^  j^ 

*  Rev.  xxii.  1/.         ^  Rev.  ii.  7.         *  2  Sam.  vii.  1  J.         '  Zech.  viii.  8. 


392  THE  APOCALYPSE 

shown  "the  Bride,  the  wife  of  the  Lamb."  Forthwith 
he  felt  himself  apparently  carried  away  to  a  great 
high  mountain,  as  Ezekiel  had  seemed  to  be  in  the  vision 
of  his  Messianic  Jerusalem,^  and  there  he  saw  the  Holy 
City,  Jerusalem,  descending  from  above  the  clouds  to  the 
new  earth.  It  "  shone  with  the  glory  of  God,"  ^  the  light 
from  it  being  like  that  of  a  stone  most  precious,  in 
tint  like  that  of  jasper,  but  yet  as  transparent  as  pure 
crystal.  The  city  was  thus  self-illuminating,  and  had  no 
need  of  the  sun  or  moon  ;  ^  the  glory  of  God  in  its  midst/ 
shining,  sunlike,  through  its  every  part,  and  shedding  an 
eternal  day  through  all  its  streets  and  habitations.  A 
wall  "  great  and  high "  enclosed  it ;  pierced  with  twelve 
gates,  like  the  New  Jerusalem  of  Ezekiel,^  three  on  each 
of  its  four  sides,  guarded  by  twelve  angel-warders ;  the 
twelve  gates,  as  in  Ezekiel's  vision,  being  called  after  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  The  wall,  moreover,  had  twelve 
foundation-stones,  visible  to  the  seer,  and  on  them  were 
the  twelve  names  of  the  twelve  apostles.^ 

The  angel  who  accompanied  John  now  produced  a 
golden  reed,  to  measure  the  city,  with  its  wall  and  gates, 
as  had  been  done  in  the  visions  of  the  restored  Jerusalem, 
in  the  visions  of  both  Ezekiel  and  Zechariah.'^  Like 
Ezekiel's  city,^  the  heaven-descended  metropolis  of  the 
new  earth  was  square  in  shape  :  its  "  length  and  breadth  " 
being  equal,  and,  when  measured  by  the  angel  the  result 
was  found  to  be  twelve  thousand  furlongs  or  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles,  but  whether  this  was  the  length  of  each  side, 
or  of  the  whole  four  sides,  is  not  stated.     In  either  case  the 

1  Ezek.  xi.  2.  2  isa.  Ix.  1.  »  Verse  23.  4  ^ech.  ii.  5. 

6  Ezek.  xlviii.  31-34.  ^  Eph.  ii.  20.  ^  E^^k.  xl.  3 ;  Zech.  ii.  1. 

8  Ezek.  xlviii.  16. 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  393 

figures  show  how  indisputably  Apocalyptic  visions  must  be 
regarded  as  "  visionary  "  imaginations,  for  if  taken  literally, 
as  giving  the  length  of  each  side,  the  city  would  have  been 
fifteen  hundred  miles  square,  though  Palestine  is  only  about 
fifty  miles  across  at  Jerusalem.  It  would,  in  fact,  mean 
that  the  Jerusalem  of  the  earth  to  come,  will  reach 
from  about  where  Khartoum  lies,  in  Africa,  on  the  south, 
to  the  Sea  of  Azof,  above  the  Black  Sea,  on  the  north, 
and  from  the  coast  of  Palestine  to  the  borders  of  Afghani- 
stan. If,  however,  the  measure  be  that  of  the  four  sides, 
together,  the  square  of  the  city  would  still  be  375  miles, 
or  nearly  twice  and  a  half  the  whole  length  of  Palestine, 
from  Dan  to  Beersheba.  We  must,  therefore,  suppose 
John  to  have  carried  rabbinical  or  Oriental  modes  of 
speaking  into  his  description,  for  the  dimensions  he  assigns 
to  this  city,  like  the  details  that  follow,  are  exactly  in 
keeping  with  rabbinical  pictures  of  the  Jerusalem  which 
they  also  expect  to  come  down  to  the  earth  out  of  heaven. 
The  wall  of  this  vast  architectural  creation  was  only 
a  hundred  and  forty-four  cubits,  or,  say,  two  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  high,  but  the  same  stupendous  scale  is  appor- 
tioned to  the  height  of  its  buildings  as  to  its  external 
bounds,  for  "  the  height  and  the  length  and  the  breadth 
of  the  city  are  equal,"  so  that  its  houses  are  represented 
as  either  1500,  or,  at  least,  375  miles  high.^  The  wall, 
we  are  told,  was  of  jasper,  but  the  city,  as  a  whole,  was 
of  pure  gold,  which,  however,  was  as  perfectly  trans- 
parent as  pure  glass,^  so  that  it  "  had  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  upon  it;  for  the  glory  of 
God  did  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light,  or  lamp, 
thereof ; "  and  thus,  eternal  day  illumines  all  its  happy 

'  Rev.  xxi.  16.  2  jiev,  xxi.  18. 


394  THE   APOCALYPSE 

abodes.  Isaiah  had  pictured  the  restored  Jerusalem, 
after  the  Exile,  as  having  its  stones  cemented  with  the 
highly-prized  antimony, — the  eye  paint  of  the  East, — 
and  its  foundations  laid  with  sapphires ;  its  battlements 
formed  of  rubies ;  its  mighty  gateways  of  carbuncle,  and 
its  enclosing  walls,  of  pleasant,  that  is,  precious  ^  stones. 
And  Tobit,  about  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  had 
seen  in  imagination  the  times  when  Jerusalem  shall  be 
builded  with  sapphires,  and  emeralds,  and  precious  stones  : 
its  walls,  and  towers  and  battlements  with  pure  gold, 
and  its  streets  paved  with  beryl  and  carbuncle  and  stones 
of  Ophir.2  Following  such  Oriental  imaginations,  John 
now  describes  the  foundations  of  his  Jerusalem  as  adorned 
with  all  kinds  of  precious  stones — jaspers,  lapis-lazuli,  red 
carnelians,  green  emeralds,  milk-white  sardonyx,  blood-red 
sardius,  the  golden-coloured  topaz,  the  sea-green  beryl,  the 
orange  topaz,  the  green  chrysoprase,the  purple-blue  jacinth, 
and  the  violet  amethyst.  The  twelve  gateways,  huge,  no 
doubt,  as  those  of  Eastern  cities  now,  were  of  pearl;  a  single 
pearl  forming  each,  and  the  houses  were  of  pure  gold,  which, 
however,  was,  as  I  have  said,  transparent  as  glass,^  as  was 
needed,  when  there  was  no  light  but  the  Divine  glory. 

There  had  been  a  temple  in  the  former  Jerusalem,  but 
none  would  be  needed  in  this,  for  the  whole  city  was  a 
temple,  as  the  dwelling-place  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
and  the  Lamb.  As  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb,  with  whom 
the  Bridegroom  makes  His  abiding  home,  it  glories,  as  I 
have  said,  in  the  full  brightness  of  His  presence  and  of 
that  of  the  Eternal  Father ;  neither  sun  nor  moon  being 
needed,  though  we  must  suppose  them  to  have  shone  out 
again,  in  the  new  heavens.     In  the  words  of  Isaiah* — 

1  Isa.  liv.  11,  12.      2  Toijit  xiii.  16,  17.      ^  Rev.  xxi.  21.      ^  Isa.  Ix.  1. 


THE  NEW   JERUSALEM  395 

"the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  risen  upon  it."  All  that 
follows  is,  only,  the  refrain  of  the  ancient  prophets,  of 
whose  high  shado wings- forth  of  the  splendour  of  the  City 
of  God,  all  that  John  saw  in  his  visions  was  the  final 
realisation.  "  The  (once  heathen)  nations,"  says  he,  "  shall 
walk  amidst  its  light:  and  the  kings  of  the  earth  do 
bring  their  glory  and  honour  into  it."  And  that  there 
micrht  be  no  hindrance  to  their  entrance  and  that  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  "its  gates  shall  in  no  wise  be 
shut  by  day,"  which,  in  this  case,  means  all  the  twenty- 
four  hours,  since  "  there  shall  be  no  night  there."  Through 
these,  "  they  will  bring  the  glory  and  honour  of  the 
nations  " — as  offerings  to  God  and  the  Lamb, — "  into  it." 
Isaiah  had  in  similar  language  sung  of  his  Jerusalem — 
"  The  nations  shall  come  to  thy  light  and  kings  to  the 
brightness  of  thy  rising:  therefore  thy  gates  shall  be 
open  continually  ;  they  shall  not  be  shut  day  nor  night ; 
that  they  may  bring  into  thee  the  wealth  of  the  nations, 
and  their  kings  with  them," — as  subjects  of  the  Messiah. 
"  The  sun  shall  no  more  be  thy  light  by  day ;  neither  for 
brightness  shall  the  moon  give  light  unto  thee :  but  the 
Lord  shall  be  unto  thee  an  everlasting  light,  and  thy  God 
thy  glory."  ^  The  prophets  had  said  of  this  Jerusalem  of 
the  Eeturn,  that  the  way  to  it  would  be  called  The  Way 
of  Holiness,  over  which  the  unclean  would  not  be  allowed 
to  pass ;  ^  that  there  should  no  more  come  into  it  the 
uncircumcised  and  the  unclean ;  ^  that  its  people  should 
be  all  righteous  ;  *  that  it  should  be  holy,  and  that  no 
heathen  should  pass  through  it  any  more.^  So,  John 
tells  us,®  that  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  any- 

1  Isa.  Ix.  3,  11,  19.     See  also  Ps.  Ixxii,  10  ;  Zech.  xiv.  6,  7. 
2  Isa.  XXXV.  8.      3  Isa.  Hi.  1.      *  Isa.  Ix.  21.      ^  Joel  iii.  17.     ^  Rev.  xxii.  27. 


396  THE   APOCALYPSE 

thing  unclean  (in  the  Jewish  sense),  or  he  that  is  tainted 
with  idol  abominations,  or  has  to  do  with  such  lies :  but 
only  they  who  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life. 

Ezekiel  ^  had  seen  a  river  flowing  eastward,  from  under 
the  Temple  of  the  Jerusalem  of  the  Eeturn  ;  swelling  into 
a  mighty  stream  in  its  course  ;  its  banks  adorned  by  many 
trees  on  both  sides,  including  all  kinds  of  fruit-bearing 
growths;  the  leaves  unwithering,  and  the  fruit  never 
failing,  but  new  each  month  ;  because  the  waters  on  whose 
banks  all  the  verdure  stands,  stream  forth  from  the 
Temple  of  God.  The  fruit,  moreover,  was  for  meat  and 
the  leaves  for  healing.  Zechariah  had  seen  living  waters 
going  out,  east  and  west  from  Jerusalem.^  John  now,  in 
his  vision,  is  shown  by  the  angel  "a  river  of  water  of 
life,"  in  the  New  Jerusalem — "  bright  as  crystal,  proceed- 
ing out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb — in  the 
midst  of  it."  ^  On  each  side  of  the  river  was  the  tree  of 
life,  a  reminiscence,  in  the  dreamer's  thoughts,  of  Eden — 
and  bringing  back  to  my  own  the  long  vistas  of  trees  of 
all  fruitful  kinds  which  shade  the  banks  of  the  smooth 
Abana,  as  it  flows  softly  through  Damascus,  to-day. 
John's  tree  of  life,  moreover,  bore  "  twelve  manner  of 
fruits,  yielding  its  fruit  every  month,  and  the  leaves  were 
for  the  healing  of  the  weary  nations,"  *  coming  as  travel- 
worn  pilgrims  to  the  holy  city ;  the  fruit  supplying  food 
for  them  and  for  all  the  happy  population. 

Every  enemy  of  God  had  been  long  destroyed,  so  that 
there  was  no  more  curse  on  the  earth,  the  nations  that 


1  Ezek.  xlvii.  1  flf.  2  ^ech.  xiv.  8 

^  TrXareia,  the  word  translated  street,  means  also  a  bron^  space.      "The 
street "  seems  very  constrained  in  the  present  case. 
Rev.  xxii.  2. 


THE   NEW   JERUSALEM  397 

had  once  been  heathen,  being  now  Christian — for  John 
re-peoples  the  world,  although  "all  men"  had  perished 
in  the  great  battle  of  Armageddon;^  such  license  being 
granted  in  the  scenery  of  visions.  Instead  of  a  curse, 
indeed,  there  is  the  abiding  presence  of  God,  for  "  the 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be  in  it,  and  His 
servants  shall  do  Him  service,  and  they  shall  see  His 
face,"  as  had  been  promised  from  of  old;^  "and  His 
name  shall  be  on  their  foreheads,"  as  on  the  brow  of 
those  sealed  long  before ;  ^  a  sign  that  they  are  His,  and 
also  their  crowning  glory.  The  suffering  Christians  are, 
moreover,  once  more  told,  that  night,  the  symbol  of 
earthly  weakness,  and,  in  its  darkness,  of  former  sin, 
shall  be  gone  for  ever ;  nor  will  they  "  need  the  light 
of  a  lamp,  nor  of  the  sun,"  for  it  will  be  always  bright, 
since  "the  Lord  God  shall  give  them  lio;ht."  And  in 
this  beatific  home,  here  on  earth,  the  redeemed  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever."* 

The  revelation  of  the  mystery  of  Christ  had  now  been 
finished.  It  only  remained  to  add  a  few  words :  the 
angel  who  had  shown  him  the  city  introducing  them  by 
seeming,  in  John's  trance,  to  say,  "  These  words "  of 
promise  "  are  faithful  and  true :  and  the  Lord,  the  God 
who  inspires  the  spirits  of  the  prophets,"  of  whom  thou 
art  one,  "sent"  me,  "His  angel," ^  as  the  speaker  for 
Jesus  Christ,  "  to  show  to  His  servants  the  things "  of 
which  the  opening  scenes  "  must  shortly  come  to  pass." 
For,  through  me.  He  says,  "Behold,  I  come  quickly,"^  as 
was  said  at  the  opening  of  this  book.'^    "  Blessed  is  he  that 

1  Rev.  xix.  18,  21  ;  xx.  9. 

3  Ps.  xvii.  15  ;  Matt.  v.  8  ;  1  John  iii.  2  ;  1  Cor.  xiii.  12. 

'  Rev.  vii.  3  ;  iii.  12  •  xiv.  1.  ■*  Rev.  xxii.  5.  ^  Rev.  i.  1. 

e  Rev.  iii.  11,  10,  12,  20.  ?  Rev.  i.  3. 


398  THE  APOCALYPSE 

keepeth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book ; "  for  the 
time  is  at  hand. 

John  now  comes  forward  in  his  own  person,  to  tell 
his  readers  that  he,  John,  had  heard  and  seen  these 
things,  and  that  they  so  overpowered  him  that  he  fell 
down  to  worship  before  the  feet  of  the  angel  who  had 
shown  them  to  him,  and  spoke  as  the  mouthpiece  of 
the  Lord  Himself.  But  he  was  instantly  forbidden  to 
offer  such  homage,  the  angel  telling  him  that  he,  also,  was 
only  a  fellow-servant  with  him,  and  with  his  brethren, 
the  great  company  of  the  prophets  of  all  times,  and  with 
the  lowly  Christians  who  should  keep  the  words  of  the 
book  now  finished.     He  was  to  worship  God  only. 

A  few  closing  words ;  and  all  was  over,  but,  now,  not 
from  the  angel  but  from  Jesus  Himself,  the  light  of 
other  worlds  which  had  for  a  time  painted  on  the  air  of 
Patmos  vision  after  vision,  disclosing  mysteriously  the 
secrets  of  the  invisible  world  would  fade  away  into  that 
of  common  life,  and  instead  of  the  throne  of  God,  and 
the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  the  spirits  of  the 
just  made  perfect,  or  of  the  cryptic  symbolism  of  dragon 
and  monstrous  beast,  and  the  terrors  of  avenging  wrath, 
there  would  be  around  the  seer  only  the  heights  and 
hollows  of  Patmos  and  its  humble  fisher  population  and 
the  blue  sky  above,  outfaced  by  the  azure  of  the  ocean 
around ;  and  time,  in  short,  in  all  its  commonplace 
familiarities,  instead  of  the  wonders  of  eternity. 

In  these  parting  sentences  John  was  told  not  to  seal 
up  the  roll  on  which  he  had  written  down  the  wonders 
he  had  seen  and  heard,  as  if  these  disclosures  were 
designed  for  the  benefit  of  some  future  generation.  It 
was,  on  the  contrary,  to  be  left  open,  that  the  churches 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  399 

might  read  it  at  once,  because  "  the  time  was  at  hand  " 
for  the  fulfilment  of  all  it  contained :  so  short,  indeed, 
for  sinners  and  saints  alike,  before  the  end  of  all  things 
would  come,  that  the  condition  of  the  worthy  and 
unworthy  was  virtually  fixed  already.  It  was  too  late 
for  any  change !  The  white  flag  of  mercy  was  at  last 
withdrawn ! 

11.  He  that  is  unrighteous,  let  him  do  unrighteousness  still ; 
and  he  who  is  righteous,  let  him  do  righteousness  still;  and 
he  who  is  holy,  let  him  be  still  more  so.  12.  Behold  I  come 
quickly,  and  My  reward  is  with  Me,  to  render  to  each  man 
according  to  his  work.  13.  I  am  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first 
and  the  last,  the  beginning  and  the  end.  14.  Blessed  are  they 
that  wash  their  robes,  that  they  may  have  the  right  to  come 
to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  by  the  gates  into  the  city. 
15.  Outside  are,  and  shall  remain,  the  dogs,^  and  the  sorcerers, 
and  the  fornicators,  and  the  murderers,  and  the  idolaters,  and 
every  one  that  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie. 

16.  I,  Jesus,  have  sent  Mine  angel  to  testify  these  things  for 
the  benefit  of  the  churches.  I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring 
of  David,  and  the  bright,  the  morning  star.^ 

As  he  listened,  in  rapt  adoration,  such  words  naturally 
woke  in  John  an  intense  longing  for  his  Lord's  appear- 
ing, which  breaks  out  in  a  sentence  apparently  interrupt- 
ing the  words  of  Christ — "The  Spirit,"  which  inspired 
the  prophets,  "and  the  bride,"  alike,  0  Lord,  "say 
Come ! "  Then,  addressing  those  who  should  hear  his 
book  read  in  the  church  assemblies,  he  cries  out — "  And 
he  that  heareth,  let  him  say,  Come,"  0  Lord !  Then, 
with  an  all-embracing  love  and  pity  which  forgets  the 
solemn  words  about  the  righteous  and  the  unrighteous 
being  already  marked  as  such  by  the  Saviour  Himself,  he 

1  Phil.  iii.  2.  2  jj^^y^  xxii.  10-17. 


400  THE  APOCALYPSE 

calls  on  every  one  to  seek  a  share  in  the  felicities  that 
will  attend  the  Advent.  "  And  he  that  is  athirst,  let  him 
come :  he  that  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life,  freely  " 
— that  is,  in  the  words  of  Isaiah,  "  without  money  and 
without  price  !"^ 

A  solemn  warning  follows,  against  any  liberties  being 
taken  with  "  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book  "  by 
any  one  hearing  them  read  out  in  the  meetings  of  the 
Christians.  "If  any  one  add  to  them,"  as  he  might  be 
tempted  to  do,  in  times  so  constantly  changing,  and  with 
so  light  a  notion  as  prevailed  about  changing  written 
documents,  "  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  written 
in  it,"  or  "  if  any  one  take  away  from  them,  God  shall  take 
away  his  part  from  the  tree  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy 
city,"  and  in  all  the  promises  respecting  them  "  which  are 
written  in  this  book." 

Then  comes  the  last  line. 

He  who  testifies  these  things,  that  is,  Jesus  Christ,  says, 
Verily,  I  come  quickly. 

Then  John  adds, 

Amen ;  Come,  Lord  Jesus  ! 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  be  with  the  saints.     Amen  ! 

Thus  ends  the  last  book  of  the  New  Testament.  I 
venture  to  think  it  has  shown  itself,  when  carefully 
examined,  to  have  been  what  we  may  without  irreverence 
call,  literally,  a  Tract  of  the  Times ;  written  in  a  style, 
perhaps  forced  on  those  ages,  to  conceal,  except  from  the 
initiated,  predictions  and  hopes  dangerous  to  express 
openly;  and,  already,  for  centuries,  adopted  in  every 
great  crisis  of  Jewish  history,  as  specially  appropriate  to 

1  Rev.  xxii,  17. 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  401 

the  subjects  treated.  Introduced,  apparently,  by  Ezekiel, 
it  had  become  almost  sacred  among  Jews,  and,  through 
them,  among  Christians,  and  was  destined  to  remain  so 
for  some  centuries  longer.  As  the  past,  moreover,  had 
produced  so  many  Apocalyptic  writings  among  the  Jews, 
it  was  almost  inevitable  that  the  intense  excitement 
respecting  the  return  of  Christ  and  His  judgment  of  the 
enemies  of  His  people  would  produce  a  new  Christian 
Apocalypse.  The  oppression  of  Antiochus,  the  Eoman 
occupation  of  Palestine  under  Pompey,  and  the  reign  of 
Herod,  had  each  had  its  own,  and  it  would  have  been 
strange,  in  such  a  time,  if  there  had  not  appeared  just 
such  a  Christian  counterpart  of  these  Jewish  cryptic 
writings,  as  that  of  John,  to  meet  the  crisis  of  Nero's 
enormities.  Later  on,  indeed,  there  would  be  others, 
under  Domitian,  Hadrian,  Septimius  Severus,  Decius, 
and  the  invasion  of  the  empire  by  the  Goths,  in  a.d.  250 : 
Christian  public  opinion  craving  them  as  much  as  did 
that  of  the  Jew.  Prophetic-like  obscurity  characteristic 
in  all  ages  of  communications  claiming  to  be  from  above, 
seems  instinctively  to  have  been  felt  by  all  races  believing 
in  oracles,  whether  at  Delphi,  Jerusalem,  or  Ephesus. 
But,  apart  from  the  love  of  mystery  natural  to  us  all, 
messages  from  a  higher  world  must  needs  be  couched  in 
cloudy  metaphor  even  when  really  inspired,  since  they 
come  from  a  sphere  of  which  we  know  nothing,  and  treat 
of  matters,  as  a  rule,  more  or  less  future.  In  Apocalyptic 
books,  moreover,  as  I  have  said,  political  allusions  to  great 
personages  and  public  affairs  necessitated  a  caution  which 
sought  the  veil  of  imagery  and  symbol,  just  as,  in  later 
days,  secret  matters  of  state  were  hidden  in  the  mysteries 
of  cipher  writing.  Among  the  more  or  less  Orientally- 
IV.  2  c 


402  THE  APOCALYPSE 

minded  circles  to  whom  Apocalyptic  writings  were 
addressed,  there  was,  moreover,  a  sympathy  with  the 
monstrous  and  colossal  in  religious  metaphor,  as  we  see 
in  the  mythology  and  prophetic  compositions  of  the 
ancient  Mesopotamian  nations,  from  whom  Western  Asia 
took  their  literary  style  in  such  matters.  Influenced, 
doubtless,  by  this,  the  literature  of  Scripture,  from  the 
time  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity,  catches  the  features  of  its 
new  experiences,  so  that  in  Ezekiel,  Zechariah,  and  Daniel 
we  have  mysterious  visions,  and  gigantic,  ultra-human, 
machinery,  if  I  may  so  speak,  unknown  at  an  earlier  date, 
and  this  spread,  erelong,  outside  the  circle  of  canonical 
Prophets,  to  all  the  Jewish  literary  classes  concerned  either 
with  Apocalyptic  studies,  or,  as  scribes  and  rabbis,  de- 
voting themselves  to  the  exposition  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

Among  others,  John  followed  the  prevailing  mode.  An 
intense  student  of  the  Prophets,  his  mind  was  saturated 
with  their  spirit  and  his  memory  filled  with  their 
imagery,  but  he  had  been  hardly  less  earnest  in  his 
devotion  to  rabbinical  theology,  for,  as  we  have  seen,  his 
pictures  are  often  coloured  by  its  ideas.  It  is,  indeed,  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  complete  intellectual  freedom 
left  to  those  employed  by  God  as  the  vehicles  of  His 
revelations,  to  find  how  much  there  is  in  the  Apocalypse 
borrowed  from  the  canonical  Prophets,  and  even  from 
the  Jewish  literature  of  the  day.  Its  adaptations  from 
the  Old  Testament  have  been  shown  from  time  to  time, 
but,  as  in  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  though  to  a  larger  extent, 
we  find  a  pervading  tinge  of  Jewish  theology  through 
the  whole  book.  From  this  source  are  derived  the  awful 
conception  of  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone ;  and  those  of 
the  millennium,  the  dragon  and  the  Beast;  the  imprison- 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  403 

ment  of  Satan  and  the  gates  of  pearl.  From  it,  more- 
over, is  borrowed  the  strange  idea  of  the  height  of  the 
New  Jerusalem  being  the  same  as  its  breadth  or  length, 
and  of  its  enormous  size,  which  one  rabbinical  text 
assures  us  will  be  equal  to  that  of  all  Palestine,  while 
another  tells  us,  it  will  reach  to  Damascus.  The  pearls 
of  the  gates,  the  rabbis  inform  us,  will  be  thirty  cubits, 
say  forty-five  feet,  square,  though  this  is  nothing  to  pearls 
of  which  one  forms  a  whole  gate,  for  Eastern  gates  are 
great  buildings.  Nor  is  the  rabbinical  idea  of  the  size  of 
the  city  so  wonderful  as  that  of  John,  for,  even  on  the 
lowest  measurement,  he  makes  it  extend  to  Antioch  in 
the  distant  north,  and  to  Edessa  on  the  Euphrates. 

But,  however  different  from  Western  ideas,  the  Apoca- 
lypse, in  the  providence  of  God,  served  a  great  end  in 
sustaining  the  hearts  of  the  sorely  tried  Christians  of  the 
day.  Its  one  aim,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  cheer  as  well 
as  warn  them,  by  the  revelation  of  the  speedy  coming  of 
Christ,  and  the  almost  immediate  humiliation  and  destruc- 
tion of  their  great  enemy,  the  Eoman  power.  They  would 
be  avenged  forthwith,  by  seeing  terrible  plagues  let  loose 
on  their  foes ;  Jerusalem,  then  assailed  by  Titus,  would 
be  delivered,  by  the  destruction  of  the  besiegers,  and  the 
Temple  would  be  guarded  from  their  violence.  When 
Nero,  the  Beast,  returned,  it  would  be  to  burn  up  Eome^ 
and  leave  a  desolation  where  it  had  stood,  while  Nero,  and 
all  his  supporters  and  hosts,  would  be  annihilated ;  he 
himself,  with  his  tribe  of  Chaldeans,  magi,  astrologers, 
diviners,  enchanters,  "  mathematicians,"  jugglers,  and 
servile  parasites  who,  collectively,  had  been  personified 
as  the  "  False  Prophet,"  would  be  hurled  into  the  abyss. 
John  had  shown  them  the  wonders  of  the  upper  heavens, 


404  THE  APOCALYPSE 

with  its  representatives  of  the  whole  body  of  the  redeemed, 
in  the  twenty-four  elders,  and  of  all  creation,  in  the  four 
living  creatures ;  had  recognised  that  the  wrongs  suffered 
by  the  saints  on  earth  were  known  above,  by  the  cries 
from  beneath  the  heavenly  altar,  and  proceeds,  through 
the  whole  book,  to  show  how  they  were  heard  and  awfully 
answered.  He  had  told  how,  in  the  judgments  to  be 
poured  out,  the  saints  were  to  be  protected  by  the  seal 
of  God  on  their  forehead,  and  how  they  were  thus,  also, 
to  be  "kept,  through  faith,  unto  salvation."  It  had 
been  shown  how  Christ,  alone,  could  reveal  the  future 
of  His  people  and  of  their  enemies,  by  opening  the  sealed 
book  of  God's  purposes ;  how  the  heathen  were  to  be  visited 
with  one  judgment  after  another,  if  by  any  means  they 
might  be  led  to  timely  repentance ;  how,  when  the  Beast 
had  fallen,  and  Jerusalem  been  delivered,  Christ  would 
descend,  and,  after  raising  the  martyrs  and  confessors, 
would  reign  with  them  a  thousand  years  in  Jerusalem, 
Satan  being  bound  through  this  happy  age;  how  trouble 
would,  after  this,  break  out  again,  when  Satan  was  for  a 
season  let  loose ;  how  the  outlying  heathen  nations  would 
be  destroyed  by  fire  from  heaven,  when,  through  Satan's 
instigation,  they  came  up  against  the  Holy  City ;  how  Satan 
himself  was  then,  finally,  to  be  cast  into  the  abyss  for  ever ; 
how  the  general  judgment,  preceded  by  the  general  re- 
surrection, was  to  follow ;  how  Death  and  Hades  were  to  be 
sent  to  the  burning  lake;  how  the  unworthy  were  to  be 
shut  up  in  the  same  dreadful  prison,  and  how  the  eternal 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah  was  to  begin  in  a  new  world, 
canopied  by  new  heavens;  His  seat  of  dominion  being, 
still,  Jerusalem,  though,  now,  a  new  city  which  would 
come  down  from  God  out  of  heaven.     Those  who  heard 


THE   NEW  JERUSALEM  405 

its  revelations  read  in  the  little  Christian  meetings  would, 
therefore,  know,  that  even  if  any  of  them  should  be  slain 
for  their  fidelity  to  Christ,  they  would  be  rewarded  by 
sharing  in  the  first  resurrection,  and  would,  almost  im- 
mediately, find  themselves  reigning  with  Christ  in  Jeru- 
salem, for  a  thousand  years,  while  all  whose  lives  secured 
them  favour  at  the  last  day,  would  be  then  admitted  as 
citizens  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  drink  of  the  river  of 
the  water  of  life,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  immortality,  through 
unending  ages ;  this  amazing  felicity  being  won  for  all, 
through  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  While  the  Roman  bat- 
tering-rams were  shaking  the  walls  of  the  old  Jerusalem, 
which  even  Christians  recognised  and  loved  as  "the  mother 
of  us  all" — whether  Jewish  Christians,  Pauline  Christians, 
or  the  worthies  of  former  days, — John  was  enabled  by  the 
disclosures  vouchsafed  to  him  by  Christ,  through  His 
augel,  to  point  his  suffering  brethren  to  the  immortal  hopes 
shining  through  the  darkness  of  the  present ;  filling  their 
hearts  with  thanksgiving,  and  animating  them  to  new 
enthusiasm  for  their  glorified  Lord  and  Saviour. 

I  do  not  forget,  while  thus  tracing  the  primary  teaching 
of  this  wondrous  book,  that  secondary  meanings  have 
been  drawn  from  its  chapters  from  age  to  age,  in  ever- 
changing  and  often  opposing  variety.  With  these,  how- 
ever, I  have  not  intermeddled,  though  pleased  to  see 
others  undertake  the  task  of  extended  historical  inter- 
pretation. But  whatever  additional  views  may  be  ad- 
vanced by  pious  and  learned  study,  I  feel  assured  that  the 
generation  to  which  the  book  was  immediately  addressed, 
could  only  have  understood  its  lessons  as  alluding  to  the 
events  of  their  own  days,  and  these  I  have  sought  to  bring 
before  the  reader. 


CHAPTEE  XVII 

THE   FALL   OF   JERUSALEM 

The  fall  of  Jotapata,  a  stronghold  ten  miles  north  of 
Nazareth,  and  the  capture  of  Josephus,  the  commander 
in  Galilee,  meant  the  final  loss  of  the  rich  district  from 
which  the  revolt  drew  its  supplies,  and  was  thus  the 
signal  for  a  panic  at  Jerusalem ;  now  exposed  to  the  full 
might  of  the  Eoman  armies.  But  when  it  was  learnt  that 
the  Jewish  general,  instead  of  being  put  to  death  by 
Vespasian,  was  kept  by  him,  at  Ca3sarea,  in  only  a  nomi- 
nal confinement,  and  had  openly  gone  over  to  the  enemy, 
the  indignation  at  the  aristocratic  war-council  which  had 
appointed  such  a  traitor  was  intense.  It  proved,  said 
the  Zealots,  that  that  council  were  themselves  traitors, 
for,  had  they  not  refused  to  recall  him,  in  spite  of  the 
many  representations  of  his  falseness  made  to  them? 
John  of  Gischala,  his  deadly  enemy,  now  a  furious  leader 
in  Jerusalem,  had  demanded  his  dismissal  a  hundred 
times ;  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  head  of  one  faction  of 
the  Zealots,  popular  from  his  defeat  of  Cestius  the 
Eoman  general,  had  offered  the  greedy  Hannas  and 
Joshua,  the  high-priests,  the  money  taken  in  that  rout, 
if  they  would  give  up  their  favourite ;  and  forty  thousand 
pieces  of  silver  had  been  sent  to  Galilee  to  bribe  con- 
spirators to  seize  him.  And  now  he  had  won  the  favour 
of  Vespasian,  by  predicting  that  that  enemy  of  Israel 

406 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  407 

would  soon  be  emperor!  The  result  was  fatal  to  the 
moderate  leaders  in  Jerusalem.  Yet  Hannas  still  hoped, 
and  even  made  secret  overtures  to  Vespasian,  to  yield  up 
the  city.  But  the  Zealots  at  last  resolved  to  have  a 
high-priest  of  their  own  party,  and  caused  the  family 
of  Eliakim,  the  only  priestly  house  that  went  with  them, 
to  elect  one ;  the  choice,  by  lot,  falling  on  a  country 
Levite,  Phanias.  To  see  a  peasant  made  the  successor 
of  Aaron  infuriated  the  aristocratic  Sadducees,  who  had 
held  the  great  office  for  centuries,  as  their  perquisite, 
while  the  Pharisees  thought  the  leaders  mad  to  have 
outraged  the  Law  by  the  consecration  of  a  mere  Levite, 
and  that,  although  there  was  already  a  high  -  priest, 
Matthias,  appointed  by  Agrippa  II.,  the  lawful  authority. 
It  was  the  signal  for  civil  war  in  the  city.  Collecting 
his  supporters,  Hannas  drove  the  Zealots  into  the  Temple, 
seizing  the  fore-courts ;  but,  shrinking  from  passing  the 
barrier  which  enclosed  the  more  sacred  interior,  till  his 
people  had  been  Levitically  purified,  the  advantage  he 
had  gained,  and  with  it  his  last  chance,  was  lost.  While 
he  delayed,  the  Zealots  called  in  the  wild  hordes  of  the 
Idumseans,  cutting  through  the  bars  of  the  Temple  gates 
with  the  holy  saws,  to  give  them  entrance ;  to  the  horror 
of  the  Pharisees.  A  fearful  massacre  now  began ;  Hannas 
and  Joshua,  both  ex-high- priests,  were  seized  and  killed : 
the  Barbarians  treading  their  corpses  contemptuously 
under  their  feet,  as  I  have  told  elsewhere,  and  leaving 
them  naked  on  the  street,  to  be  eaten  by  the  dogs,  always 
prowling  houseless  through  the  town ;  I,  myself,  having, 
a  few  months  since,  scared  three  out  of  the  carcass  of  a 
dead  horse  lying  at  the  roadside,  near  the  Damascus  gate. 
Thus  perished  the  murderer  of  St.  James,  dragging  hun- 


408  THE  CATASTROPHE 

dreds  with  him  to  destruction.  Heaps  of  unburied  corpses 
lay  in  the  streets,  and  wailing  filled  the  city.  The  scenes 
described  in  Kevelation  had  been  realised.^  The  last  re- 
maining prominent  head  of  the  Temple  aristocracy,  the 
rich  Zacharias,  was  presently  brought  before  a  court,  forced 
to  assemble  in  the  Temple  synagogue ;  where,  though  the 
judges  acquitted  him,  two  Sicarii,  or  dagger-men,  instantly 
rushed  on  him  and  stabbed  him  to  death,  crying,  "  This 
is  our  sentence ; "  their  comrades,  meanwhile,  hunting  the 
judges  out  of  the  Temple.  The  Idumgeans,  when  tired  of 
slaughter,  were  finally  sent  off  again  from  Jerusalem,  but 
the  Jewish  factions  forthwith  broke  out  into  conflict  with 
each  other.  This  did  not  last  long,  however,  for  the  sup- 
porters of  Eleazar  ruthlessly  shot  down  their  opponents 
with  tlie  ballistaB  and  catapults  they  had  set  up  in  the 
sacred  grounds,  against  the  Eomans ;  in  reckless  profana- 
tion of  the  Temple. 

It  marks  the  spirit  of  the  moderate  party,  to  find 
Josephus,  who,  like  his  friends,  had  paltered  with  the 
Romans,  complaining  bitterly  of  persons  of  obscure  birth 
being  put  in  the  place  of  the  oldest  families ;  and  that, 
"unclean"  fruit  had  been  eaten  by  the  fighting  men  in 
their  heavy  duties  ;  legal  washings  omitted ;  the  altar- 
wood  used  for  the  war-machines  ;  that  "  unclean  "  per- 
sons entered  the  Temple  courts,  and,  after  famine  had 
set  in,  when  the  soldiers,  in  their  hunger,  were  eating  all 
the  leather- work  they  could  find,  and  mothers  devouring 
even  their  own  children — that  the  holy  oil  and  the  wine 
for  offerings  in  the  Temple  were  distributed  among  the 
starving  creatures.^ 

^  Rev.  xi. 

2  Bell.  Jud.  iv.  3,  7  ;  vii.  8,  1  ;  v.  1,  5 ;  vi.  2,  21  ;  v.  13,  6. 


THE  FALL  OF  JEKUSALEM  409 

Yet  even  famine  was  made  worse  by  the  suspicion  kindled 
through  the  intrigues  of  the  Eoman  party.  The  factions  of 
Eleazar  and  John  fought  desperately  with  each  other  in 
the  Temple  grounds,  creating  such  strife  and  tumult  in  the 
town  that  the  citizens,  in  despair,  called  in  the  guerilla 
chief  Simon,  to  defend  them,  and  a  regular  siege  of  the 
Temple  was  begun.  The  cup  of  misery  was  now  full! 
Not  only  were  any  Christians,  still  in  the  city,  sure  that 
the  troubles  of  the  last  days  had  come ;  the  abomination 
of  desolation  predicted  by  Daniel  being  now,  as  they 
believed,  set  up  in  the  holy  place,  by  the  profanation  of 
it  they  witnessed,  but  the  priests  pointed  to  the  proof,  in 
that  Prophet,  of  these  times  having  arrived,  from  the 
sanctuary  being  thus  polluted,  as  in  the  days  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes.^  The  Zealots,  however,  believed  only  in  the 
sword ;  that  alone  would  bring  the  Messiah.  Nothing 
remained  but  that  those  who  were  shocked  at  its  profana- 
tion by  the  blood  of  men,  and  by  the  slights  shown  to  the 
Law,  should  leave  the  guilty  city. 

Meanwhile,  Vespasian  profiting  by  the  quarrels  of  the 
factions,  used  the  winter  of  67  and  68  to  fortify  the  towns 
he  had  taken,  and  completed  the  investment  of  Jeru- 
salem. In  the  spring,  Gadara,  in  Peraea,  fell,  and  thus  his 
rear  was  safe.  Iduma^a  was  occupied,  and  secured  by 
forts,  and  Jerusalem  was  finally  isolated,  and  thrown  on 
its  own  resources  alone,  by  the  taking  of  Jericho,  in 
May  68. 

Now,  however,  came,  strangely,  a  breathing  time  for 
the  Jews.  At  Caesarea,  his  headquarters,  Vespasian,  while 
arranging  for  the  final  attack  on  the  capital,  was  disturbed 
by  news  from  Italy.     Each  post  was  more  grave  than  its 

»  Matt.  xxiv.  15  ;  BelZ.  Jud.  iv.  6,  3. 


410  THE   CATASTROPHE 

predecessor.  Vindex  had  risen  in  Gaul.  Then,  Wero  had 
killed  himself  and  Galba  was  emperor.  Vespasian  could 
not  prosecute  the  war  without  orders  from  his  new  master. 
But  the  innovation  of  the  choice  of  a  ruler  by  the  legions 
or  Praetorians  was  bringing  on  sad  troubles.  The  Caesars 
being  gone,  the  throne  of  the  world  was  made  a  gift  of 
the  soldiery,  which  meant  that  it  would  be  put  up  to  the 
highest  bidder,  and  decided  by  the  tumultuous  shouts  of 
the  camp.  Nero  had  unconsciously  seen,  at  his  audiences, 
seven  future  emperors,  and  the  father  of  an  eighth ;  Galba, 
Otho,  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Domitian,  Nerva,  and 
the  father  of  Trajan.  Meanwhile,  till  this  supreme  ques- 
tion was  settled,  the  sword  must  rest  in  its  scabbard  in 
Palestine ;  a  pause  which  gave  the  Eomans  coveted  rest, 
and  set  the  Zealots  free  for  still  greater  excesses  than  in 
the  past.  Everywhere  the  nations  held  their  breath,  as 
ominous,  disquieting  rumours  stole  over  all  lands.  The 
circle  of  each  horizon  became  a  whispering-gallery  of 
muttered  hopes  and  fears,  keeping  all  minds  in  restless 
outlook  for  they  knew  not  what  momentous  and  imminent 
issues.  It  was  the  interval  of  which  John  speaks  in  the 
Apocalypse,  before  the  letting  loose  of  God's  judgments 
on  mankind.  The  angels,  to  use  his  metaphor,  stood  at 
the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  holding  the  four  winds,  that 
they  should  not  blow  on  the  earth,  or  on  the  sea,  or  on 
any  tree ;  no  wave  rising,  no  leaf  stirring ;  while  another 
angel,  ascending  from  the  East,  sealed  the  servants  of  God 
on  their  foreheads,  to  mark  them  out  for  protection  when 
the  final  judgments  began.^  I  have  already  sketched  the 
great  events  that  immediately  followed  the  death  of  Kero ; 
the  spread  of  a  report  in  Eome  that  he  had  fled  to  Egypt 

^  Rev.  vii.  1,  3. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  411 

or  to  the  Farthians,  beyond  the  Euphrates,  and  would 
soon  return.  Men  looked  anxiously  towards  the  great 
river,  from  the  posts  on  which,  Vespasian  had  withdrawn 
the  troops,  relying  on  Nero's  treaty  with  Parthia.  This 
proved,  indeed,  to  be  ended  with  the  emperor's  death ;  the 
frontiers  on  both  sides  of  the  Euphrates  seeing  border 
skirmishes  again  in  full  force.^  Galba,  an  old  honest 
general,  soon  lay  murdered  by  the  soldiers,  whose  license 
he  would  not  encourage.  Vitellius  was  proclaimed  emperor 
in  Germany,  Otho  in  Eome.  The  unity  of  the  empire 
seemed  about  to  be  broken  up  into  rival  monarchies,  as 
that  of  Alexander  had  been ;  not  only  Jews  and  Christians 
thinking  this,  but  even  Koman  provinces.  A  child  said 
to  have  been  born  at  Syracuse,  in  68,  with  three  heads, 
was  held  a  symbol  of  the  three  emperors  who  rose  in  one 
year,  and  reigned  together,  for  a  brief  moment.  Otho 
who  was  proclaimed  in  January  69,  after  glorifying  the 
memory  of  Nero  for  three  months,  fell  by  his  own  hand, 
when  defeated  by  Vitellius,  at  Bedriacum  in  Northern 
Italy,  at  a  cost  of  twenty-four  thousand  lives ;  leaving  the 
ignoble  victor  as  another  phantom  emperor.  All  this  time 
Vespasian  remained  inactive  at  Ceesarea ;  he  and  his  son 
Titus,  watching  affairs.  Meanwhile,  the  legions  in  Syria 
felt  aggrieved  that  those  of  the  West  should  monopolise 
the  disposing  of  the  throne,  and  as  Mucianus  the  pro- 
consul of  Syria  and,  as  such,  commander-in-chief,  would 
not  hear  of  aspiring  to  the  purple,  Vespasian,  a  man  of 
sixty, — plain,  unambitious  and  honest,  with  no  claim  of 
nobility  to  aid  him,  found  himself  designated  by  the  voice 
of  the  army,  for  the  splendid  but  dangerous  honour  of 
the  succession.     His  son  Titus,  twenty-eight  years  old, 

1  Tac.  Hi$t.  u,Q% 


412  THE   CATASTROPHE 

vigorously  supporting  him,  took  on  himself  the  burden  of 
the  necessary  intrigues  and  negotiations.  The  character 
of  Vitellius  was  meanwhile  working  in  favour  of  Vespasian, 
for  Nero  was  once  more  honoured  in  every  way  by  the 
new  emperor ;  revolting  the  conscience  of  the  better- 
minded  in  all  the  provinces.  The  native  princes  of  Syria* 
moreover,  were  won  to  the  side  of  Vespasian  by  the  arts  of 
Agrippa  II.,  and  his  clever,  unprincipled  sister,  Berenice, 
who,  though  forty  years  old,  made  a  complete  conquest 
of  Titus  by  her  blandishments,  and  of  his  father  by  her 
amiabilities  and  presents.  Tiberius  Alexander,  a  Jewish 
renegade,  prefect  of  Egypt,  also  supported  the  movement, 
and  even  the  Parthians  undertook  to  aid  it.^ 

Shrewd  and  calm,  keeping  very  quiet,  and  acting  loyally 
to  each  shadow  emperor  as  he  rose,  Vespasian  was  never- 
theless watching  carefully  each  turn  of  affairs,  and  pre- 
paring himself  for  action  at  the  right  moment.  Yet 
superstition  played  its  part  in  his  practical  nature.  Con- 
sulting oracles,  he  was  told  by  one  at  Carmel,  that  he 
would  reign,  and  he  kept  a  "  Chaldean,"  as  consulting 
mystagogue,  and  indulged,  in  secret,  in  the  black  arts.^ 
Erelong,  the  troops  at  C?esarea,  ever  more  angry  at  the 
Western  legions  having  the  naming  of  successive  emperors, 
insisted  on  hailing  their  commander  as  "imperator";  the 
legions  at  Alexandria  and  Antioch  having  already  done 
so.^  Agrippa,  then  at  Eome,  heard  all  this,  earlier  than 
Vitellius,  and  hurrying  back  to  Palestine,  went,  with 
his  sister,  in  the  train  of  Vespasian,  to  Antioch  and  Alex- 
andria, to  grace  the  assumption  of  the  empire  by  him. 

1  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  82  ;  iv.  51. 

2  Suet.  Vespas.  25 ;  Dio.  Cass.  Ixvi.  1. 

3  Tac.  Hist.  ii.  9,  81  ;  Suet.  Vespas.  6. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  413 

Meanwhile,  the  reign  of  Vitellius  came  to  an  end,  after 
the  defeat  of  his  army  at  Cremona,  by  the  general  acting 
for  Vespasian.  Wild  tumults  rose  in  Eome,  during 
which  the  Capitol  was  burnt  down;  the  city  taken  by 
the  victor  of  Cremona,  after  bloody  street  battles,  in 
which  the  brother  of  Vespasian  perished,  and,  finally, 
Vitellius  was  put  to  death  by  the  soldiery,  with  every 
circumstance  of  contempt,  on  the  20th  December  69. 
Vespasian  now  took  the  title  of  Csesar,  and  found  himself 
the  centre  of  Oriental  dreams  and  superstitions  which 
must  have  astonished  the  honest  Eoman.  Jewish  magi, 
astrologers,  and  "  mathematicians  "  proclaimed  him  a  Star 
in  the  East,  ordained  to  be  King  of  the  Jews.  Josephus, 
as  already  narrated,  tells  how  a  devil  was  cast  out  before 
him.  The  god  Serapis  having  announced  that  the  great 
man's  touch  would  heal  the  blind  and  the  lame,  sightless 
men  and  deformed  cripples  were  brought  to  him,  and,  as 
was  asserted,  were  cured  by  his  hand.  The  moderate 
among  the  Jews  were  not  behind  in  this  worship  of  the 
rising  sun,  but  he  set  off  for  Italy  in  the  beginning  of  70, 
leaving  Titus  to  complete  the  crushing  of  the  rebellion 
in  Jerusalem  and  Palestine. 

^s  soon  as  the  season  permitted,  Titus  left  Alexandria 
for  Csesarea,  and,  erelong,  advanced  from  that  town,  at  the 
head  of  a  great  army,  to  girdle  Jerusalem  in  an  iron  ring. 
He  had  then,  or  soon  after,  six  legions,  of  which  the 
twelfth  was  noted  for  its  hatred  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
tenth  for  its  splendid  artillery  practice — of  course  with 
ballistee  and  catapults.  There  were,  besides,  many  aux- 
iliaries sent  by  the  Syrian  princes,  and  wild  corps  of 
Arabs,  who  came  mainly  for  plunder.  All  the  pro- 
Eoman  Jews,  including  Agrippa  and  Josephus,  went  with 


414 


THE    CATASTROPHE 


the  commander-in-chief,  and  the  conduct  of  the  siege 
operations  was  confided  to  Tiberius  Alexander,  another 
Jew.  Titus  pitched  his  camp  on  Mount  Scopus,  where 
Cestius  had  planted  the  standards  three  years  before; 
the  tenth  legion  set  up  its  terrible  artillery  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives ;  two  others  closed-in  the  north  side  of  the  city, 
a  third  lying  as  a  reserve  behind  them.     Christians  who 

saw  the  array  covering  Scopus 
and  all  the  bare  hills  round, 
must  have  recalled  the  words 
of  our  Lord,  spoken  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  in  the  last 
week  of  His  life,  when,  as  the 
splendour  of  the  Temple,  and 
the  suburban  mansions,  and 
public  buildings  of  the  city 
"^■-^  burst  on  His  sight,  at  the  turn 
of  the  path  towards  it,  He  burst 
into  tears  and  cried  out  in  His 
sorrow,  "  If   thou  hadst  known 

The  Emperor  Titus.  in  this  daV,  CVCU  thoU,  the  thiu^S 
Born  A.D,  41 ;  died  A.D.  81.  "^  '  o 

{From  a  marble  head  at  Porta  that      bcloug      UUtO     pcaCC  !      but 

Portese,Royne,noio  in  the  British  ^^^     ^Jjq„     ^^^     J^^^J     f^^j^     ^J^jj^^ 
Museum.)  •' 

eyes.  For  the  days  shall  come 
upon  thee  when  thine  enemies  shall  cast  up  a  bank 
about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep  thee 
in  on  every  side,  and  shall  dash  thee  to  the  ground,  and 
thy  children  within  thee;  and  they  shall  not  leave  in 
thee  one  stone  upon  another;  because  thou  knewest  not 
the  time  of  thy  visitation."  i  Josephus  tells  us  how  it 
grieved  him  to  see  all  the  places  familiar  to  him  from 

^  Luke  xix.  41-44. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  415 

childhood  given  up  to  the  soldiery ;  how  they  hewed  down 
the  olive  trees  of  Gethsemane,  and  the  groves  at  the 
tombs  of  the  kings,  and,  indeed,  everything  green,  far  and 
near,  to  the  very  hedges  and  ornamental  shrubs,  which 
were  made  into  fascines  and  gabions,  and  how  they 
carried  off  the  very  soil  of  gardens  to  throw  on  the 
siege  mounds.^ 

Inside  the  city  anarchy  and  murder  reigned.  Famine 
made  all  men  savages,  and  the  wild  starving  mob,  asso- 
ciating with  the  different  factions,  spared  neither  age  nor 
sex.  To  have  food  was  death ;  and,  indeed,  life  was  taken 
for  any  cause  or  for  none.  No  woman  was  safe  from  the 
rabble ;  confusion  and  tumult  made  the  city  a  pande- 
monium. Each  day  saw  bloody  fights  between  rival 
bands,  and  the  streets  were  never  free  from  mangled 
corpses,  for  it  was  death  to  attempt  to  bury  the  victims 
of  popular  fury.  Simon,  sou  of  Gioras,  with  about  15,000 
men,  commanded  in  the  upper  town ;  John  of  Gischala, 
with  his  bands  of  organised  assassins,  or  Sicarii,  about 
7000  in  number,  held  the  desecrated  Temple.  But  a  new 
faction,  under  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon  the  priest,  erelong 
seized  the  inner  part  of  the  sanctuary,  where  they  main- 
tained themselves  on  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine 
stored  there,  and  on  the  provisions  still  brought,  as  first- 
fruits,  to  the  priests.  The  constant  war  between  these 
three  rival  forces  now  grew  so  fierce  that  corpses  were 
left  to  rot  unburied,  in  the  holy  grounds.  Immense 
quantities  of  wheat  had  been  accumulated  in  the  Temple 
store-chambers,  to  supply  food  for  years,  if  needed,  but 
these  were  all  burnt  by  John  and  Eleazar,  between  them ; 
each  hoping  to  preserve  enough  for  his  own  faction,  and 

'  Bell.  Jud.  vu  2,  1. 


416  THE   CATASTROPHE 

starve  out  that  of  his  opponent.^  The  condition  of  the 
inhabitants  grew  desperate,  and  the  sober-minded,  Jews 
though  they  were,  banded  together  to  seek  deliver- 
ance by  secretly  making  peace  with  the  Eomans. 
Escape  to  them,  however,  proved  impossible;  every  gate 
being  watched  with  eager  eyes  by  the  Irreconcilables. 
Yet,  amidst  all  this  misery,  the  spell  of  Jerusalem  still 
brought  a  stream  of  pilgrims  to  it  from  all  lands ;  for  it 
was  the  Passover  season :  both  John  and  Eleazar  giving 
them  welcome,  since  they  profited  by  their  offerings,  and 
even  gained  supporters  from  among  them.  Indeed,  the 
Messianic  prophecies  had  filled  the  Jews,  everywhere, 
with  such  an  assurance  of  final  victory,  that  soldiers 
deserted  even  from  the  heathen  legions,  and  made  their 
way  into  the  city  which  was  to  be  aided  from  heaven  and 
to  rule  the  world.^  Meanwhile,  numbers  of  worshippers 
were  killed  while  at  the  altar  with  their  sacrifices ;  the 
ministering  priests  and  they  falling  together,  under  the 
arrows  of  John,  or  the  stones  from  his  machines.  Mes- 
sengers, moreover,  were  sent  beyond  the  Euphrates,  to 
the  Parthians  and  other  powers,  for  it  was  fancied  that 
the  whole  East  would  send  its  Jews  to  the  rescue  of  the 
city  of  Jehovah,  and  the  princes  were  supposed  to  need 
only  a  hint,  themselves  to  come  to  its  help  against  the 
Eoman  :  for,  like  the  Christians,  the  Jews  believed  that 
the  empire  was  breaking  up,  and  would  soon  become 
a  number  of  weak  rival  kingdoms.  Fanatics  stalked 
through  the  narrow  streets,  calling  on  the  four  winds  to 
destroy  it.  To  the  last,  the  mob  shouted  out  the  glories 
of  Jerusalem  as  the  future  metropolis  of  the  world. 

^  Bell.  Jud.  V.  1,4;  Tac.  Hist.  v.  42.     It  is  also  mentioned  repeatedly 
in  the  Talmud.  ^  Suet.  Vesjpas.  4. 


THE   FALL   OF   JERUSALEM  417 

Meanwhile  things  advanced  at  first  faster  than  Titus 
had  hoped,  for  the  outer  wall,  very  recently  built,  fell 
before  the  blows  of  his  great  battering-ram,  the  Conqueror, 
fifteen  days  after  the  opening  of  the  siege  on  the  23rd  of 
April,  and  the  second  was  breached  and  stormed  a  few 
days  later.  To  deepen  the  effect  on  the  Jews,  Titus 
now  held  a  grand  review  on  the  surrounding  girdle  of 
heights,  which  were  covered  with  endless  masses  of  glitter- 
ing helmets  and  shields.  This  failing  to  awe  the  defenders, 
Josephus  was  sent  to  a  place,  as  safe  as  might  be  from 
darts  and  stones,  to  harangue  the  people  who  crowded  the 
top  of  the  third  wall,  on  the  religious  duty  of  submission, 
but  his  ingenious  oratory  was  useless :  every  bow  being 
levelled  at  the  traitor,  and  every  machine  hurling  stones 
at  him.  Nor  was  he  more  successful  when  forced,  later 
on,  to  repeat  more  than  once,  this  hateful  and  dangerous 
mission;  a  stone  finally  striking  him  on  the  head  and 
almost  killing  him,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Jews,  and  even 
to  the  satisfaction  of  his  mother ;  then  a  prisoner  in  the 
city. 

Those  who  have  seen  Jerusalem  at  Easter  can  imagine 
the  almost  incredible  number  of  people  who  could  crowd 
themselves  into  the  small  space  of  the  old  city  at  the  Pass- 
over. It  seemed  as  if  the  nation  had  gathered  from  all 
the  earth,  that  it  might  be  slaughtered  together.  How 
varied  the  lands  represented  by  the  swarming  pilgrims 
were,  is  seen  by  the  countries  named  in  Acts,  as  having  sent 
their  quota  to  the  feast.^  That  the  city  did  not  surrender, 
was  due  to  its  defensive  strength.  The  Temple  itself  was 
a  fortress.  The  castles  of  Herod,  the  fortress  Antonia,  the 
Upper  City,  now  known  as  Zion,  and  Acra,  in  the  north 

*  Acta  il  9-11. 
IV.  2  D 


418  THE  CATASTROPHE 

centre  of  the  town,  were  so  many  strongholds,  and  the 
fighting  men,  recruited  hugely  by  the  pilgrims,  were 
almost  numberless.  Nor  did  this  immense  garrison  yet 
suffer  from  hunger  like  the  rest  of  the  population,  for  they 
seized  all  the  food  discovered.  Yet  the  chance  of  success- 
ful resistance  would  have  been  seen  to  be  hopeless,  had 
they  not  been  as  fanatical  as  the  modern  dervishes,  who 
believe  that  the  Prophet  will  assuredly  give  them  victory. 
The  walls  had  been  built  of  huge  stones,  like  some  still 
seen  in  those  of  the  Baalbek  temples,  or  in  the  foundations 
of  that  of  Jerusalem ;  stones  which  were  the  wonder  of 
the  men  even  of  that  day ;  ^  yet  the  terrible  battering- 
rams  had  shaken  down  two  walls  already, — that  of  Agrippa 
and  that  of  Acra, — and  the  Romans  now  held  both  the 
south  and  north  of  the  city.  But  a  severe  wound  received 
by  Titus  from  a  Jewish  stone-machine,  filled  the  popula- 
tion with  insane  confidence,  while  it  exasperated  the 
Romans,  envenomed  their  fierceness,  and  prolonged  their 
resistance. 

Harsher  measures,  which  Vespasian  had  told  his  son 
were  needed  with  such  foes,  who,  he  said,  mistook  gentle- 
ness for  timidity,  were  ordered.  All  prisoners  were  hence- 
forth crucified  ;  500  being  sometimes  nailed  up  on  one  day, 
so  that,  erelong,  there  was  neither  room  for  the  crosses, 
nor  wood  of  which  to  make  them.  At  last,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  July,  the  strong  castle  Antonia  fell,  and  the  Temple 
grounds,  on  the  north-west  angle  of  which  it  stood,  were 
open  to  the  Romans ;  leaving  the  Temple  itself  apparently 
indefensible.  But  the  Jews  were  far  from  this  opinion. 
All  the  horrors  of  the  preceding  weeks  had  not  shaken 
their  confidence  in  the  speedy  appearance  of  Jehovah,  to 

^  Mark  ziii.  1. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  419 

blast  the  foe  with  His  lightnings.  Great  part  of  the 
city  lay  in  ruins ;  thousands  of  corpses  poisoned  the  air ; 
famine  crept  from  house  to  house.  Many  had  given 
their  all  for  a  bushel  of  grain ;  cannibalism  was  extend- 
ing. The  crucified  wretches  mouldered  outside  before 
all  eyes,  on  thousands  of  crosses,  and  heaps  of  those  who 
had  escaped  from  the  town,  to  beg  for  life  from  the  enemy, 
lay,  everywhere,  cut  open  by  the  Arab  auxiliaries  of 
Titus,  to  get  the  precious  scones  or  coin  they  were  sup- 
posed to  have  swallowed.  But  no  one  dreamed  that, 
though  all  this  and  more  had  been  permitted,  Jehovah 
would  let  His  Temple  perish  or  even  be  taken,  by  the 
heathen. 

Ferocity  grew  on  both  sides.  At  the  end  of  May  the 
Jews,  ever  increasing  in  audacity,  rushed  out  and  managed 
to  burn  the  war-engines  of  the  Romans,  and  to  attack 
their  camp  itself.  It  seemed  as  if  Jerusalem  could  not 
be  won ;  and  that  the  Jews  were  right  in  thinking  their 
God  fought  for  it.  But  Titus  was  in  no  mood  to  be 
beaten.  If  he  could  not  carry  it  by  assault,  he  would 
blockade  it  by  a  wall,  within  which  it  must  yield  to 
hunger.  The  whole  army  therefore  was  forthwith  set  to 
build  one,  and  so  intense  was  the  hatred  felt  to  the  Jews, 
and  so  burning  the  determination  to  conquer,  that  it  was 
finished  in  three  days.  Legion  vied  with  legion,  cohort 
with  cohort :  Titus  stimulating  their  zeal  by  making  the 
round  of  the  works  several  times  each  day. 

Hitherto,  the  gardens  of  Bethlehem  and  other  places 
had  supplied  vegetables  to  the  citizens,  but  now  every 
source  of  help  was  cut  off.  The  Irreconcilables,  however, 
still  had  enough  food,  and  cared  nothing  for  the  sufferings 
around  them.     All  houses  were  searched  for  hidden  grain 


420  aiTE   CATASTROPHE 

or  other  sustenance ;  torture  being  freely  used  to  enforce 
disclosure.  Any  one  in  comparatively  good  condition 
was  assumed  to  have  some  food  to  yield  up.  Amidst  all 
this  robbery  and  plunder,  anything  and  everything  was 
greedily  eaten  by  the  population  at  large,  and  this  starva- 
tion and  gross  support  spread  the  most  frightful  maladies 
among  the  feeble,  fever-stricken,  crowded  masses.  Hun- 
ger, rage,  despair,  madness  reigned,  yet  they  never  doubted 
that  God  would,  in  the  end,  appear,  to  save  His  Temple.^ 
Self-styled  prophets  announced  that  He  would  presently 
come  down  from  heaven,  to  rescue  His  beloved  city,  and 
such  was  the  confidence  that  He  would  do  so,  that  num- 
bers who  could  have  escaped,  waited  in  Jerusalem,  to  see 
the  miracle.  Any  one  supposed  to  recommend  capitula- 
tion was  forthwith  killed ;  Matthias,  the  high-priest  who 
had  brought  Simon  into  the  town,  perishing,  among  others, 
on  this  charge,  by  that  brigand's  orders ;  his  three  sons, 
being  killed  before  their  father's  eyes,  to  strike  greater 
terror  into  the  multitude.  Meetings  were  prohibited ;  to 
weep  together  was  a  crime. 

Wearying  to  be  at  Eome,  and  there  enjoy  the  new 
imperial  honours  of  his  father,  Titus  pressed  on  the  siege. 
New  "  mounds  "  were  raised,  in  preparation  for  storming ; 
the  gardens  for  twelve  miles  round  being  stripped  of  all 
their  trees  to  supply  timber  for  towers  raised  upon  them 
by  the  besiegers.  An  attempt  made  in  July,  to  repeat 
the  triumph  of  May,  by  burning  down  these,  totally 
failed,  and  from  that  moment  the  fate  of  the  city  was  felt 
to  be  sealed.  The  Eomans  now  began  to  level  Antonia, 
that  free  access  might  be  had  to  the  Temple,  but  the  Jews 
built  a  new  wall  between  the  sanctuary  and  its  assailants, 

1  Enoch  cxiii.  7. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  421 

and  the  Temple  grounds  were  thus  turned  into  a  battle- 
field, which  was  soon  wet  with  blood  from  both  sides; 
the  splendid  porch  reaching  from  Antonia  south,  being, 
first  of  all,  destroyed  ;  each  combatant  levelling  a  part. 

On  the  second  August,  the  most  powerful  machines 
had  been  dragged  into  position,  and  began  to  batter  the 
walls  of  the  Court  of  the  Israelites,  which  lay  between 
Antonia  and  the  Temple  proper,  but  the  effect  was  im- 
perceptible. Yet  the  Jews  were  alarmed  by  the  approach 
of  the  day  on  which  the  Temple  of  Solomon  had  been  burnt 
by  the  Chaldeans ;  dreading  that  it  might  see  theirs  also 
perish.  Still,  day  after  day  passed  and  the  Temple  stil] 
stood  !  But  the  joy  was  short.  On  the  eighth  of  August, 
a  day  before  the  ominous  catastrophe  of  the  former  sanc- 
tuary, the  Eomans  succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the  gates  of 
the  Men's  Court.  The  Jews  were  stupefied.  They  could 
not  realise  that  the  sacred  house  could  have  been  so  im- 
perilled. Titus,  besought  by  all  the  Jews  round  him  to 
spare  it,  and,  no  doubt  anxious  to  preserve  such  a  memorial 
of  his  victory,  ordered  the  flames  to  be  extinguished,  and 
they  were  so,  next  day. 

But  the  words  of  Christ  were  to  come  true.  The  ninth 
day  of  Ab,  which  is  nearly  our  August,  is  the  day  on 
which  the  Jews  still  bewail  the  burning  of  the  first 
Temple,  and  it  passed  without  a  fresh  conflagration.  On 
the  tenth,  however,  the  Jews  furiously  attacked  the  Eomans 
in  the  Temple  grounds,  only  to  be  driven  back,  and  Titus, 
leaving  a  detachment  behind,  in  the  Temple  courts  already 
taken,  to  protect  the  sacred  building  from  incendiarism, 
withdrew  to  Antonia,  to  prepare  for  a  final  assault  next 
day.  But  the  Jews  were  furious  at  the  sight  of  the 
heathen  guarding  the  smouldering  embers  of  the  late  fire, 


422  THE  CATASTROPHE 

and  rushed  out  on  them,  to  be  presently  hurled  back,  and 
pursued  by  the  legionaries  to  the  very  Temple  buildings. 
The  irritation  of  men  so  ferociously  opposed  was  beyond 
restraint.  Without  an  order,  a  soldier,  mounting  on  the 
shoulders  of  a  comrade,  threw  a  burning  brand  into  the 
Temple  itself,  through  what  was  known  as  the  "golden 
window,"  facing  the  grand  royal  porch,  or  arcade,  which 
ran  along  the  south  side  of  the  Temple  area.  The  flame 
caught  presently,  and  the  smoke  announced  that  the 
Romans,  like  the  Chaldeans,  had  set  the  very  house  of 
God  on  fire !  A  wild  cry  of  despair  rose  from  all  the 
city,  and  from  the  fanatics  still  in  the  Temple  courts. 
Leaving  their  posts,  their  one  thought  was  to  save  their 
sanctuary.  Titus  would  fain  have  had  the  splendid  trophy 
spared,  but  the  fury  of  his  soldiers  made  it  impossible  to 
preserve  it.  As  the  Jews  fought  to  defend  it,  the  Romans, 
who  had  pressed  on,  fought  bitterly  to  drive  them  back. 
Fresh  brands  flew  over  the  heads  of  the  combatants.  Heaps 
of  corpses  lay  on  the  Temple  steps,  when  Titus  reached 
the  blazing  pile,  but  while  he  was  giving  orders  to  save 
it,  a  soldier  put  lire  under  the  doors  of  the  Holy  Place, 
which  was  instantly  in  flames;  the  dry  cedar  and  the 
hangings,  needing  only  a  spark  to  burst  into  tongues  of 
flame. 

A  great  heart-rending  cry  rose  from  every  part  of  the 
city,  so  far  as  it  yet  stood,  at  the  sight  of  the  smoke- 
clouds  rolling  up  from  the  burning  Temple,  but  the 
struggle  round  the  furious  conflagration  was  as  fierce  as 
ever.  A  frightful  carnage  marked  the  site  of  the  great 
altar,  before  the  fast  vanishing  Holy  Place.  Its  top — 
about  seventy-five  feet  square, — crowded,  ever  afresh, 
with  new  combatants,  was  as  constantly  swept  clear,  only 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  423 

to  be  thronged  again  with  new  victims,  mad  with  fanatical 
excitement;  their  great  black  eyes  flashing  fury,  their 
long  black  hair  streaming  in  the  wind,  their  white  teeth 
gnashing  with  vain  rage,  their  excited  dark  faces  and 
pale  lips  quivering  with  excitement,  as  they  cried  wildly 
on  God  to  stand  by  His  people  and  His  house!  But 
though  they  fought  with  the  frenzy  of  despair,  it  was 
only  to  be  swept  off  in  heaps  down  the  altar  slope.  The 
blood  of  men  flowed,  on  all  sides,  in  streams,  instead  of 
that  of  bulls  and  goats;  the  survivors  being  still  more 
frenzied  by  the  shrieks  of  the  dying !  But  now  one  hall 
after  another  was  taken  by  the  Eomans ;  the  soldiers 
pressing  steadily  forwards,  over  the  smoking  ruins.  The 
Jews  still  held  the  road  to  the  upper  town,  across  the 
Tyropcean  ravine,  but  they  refused,  as  yet,  to  flee.  Some 
priests  who  had  managed  to  gain  the  roof  of  the  burning 
Temple,  tore  off  its  gilded  metal-work,  put  up  to  prevent 
birds  from  alighting  on  the  sacred  building,  and  hurled 
the  pieces,  with  the  leaden  sockets  in  which  they  were 
imbedded,  on  the  legionaries  below.  All  fear  of  death 
seemed  lost.  Many  sought  it,  that  they  and  the  sanctuary 
might  perish  together.  Not  a  few  rushed  on  the  short 
swords  of  the  Eomans;  numbers  killed  themselves,  and 
numbers  killed  each  other.  At  last  the  Eomans  got  to  the 
eastern  halls.  There,  a  self-styled  prophet  had  gathered 
over  six  thousand  men,  and  great  numbers  of  women  and 
children,  proclaiming  that  this  was  the  time  when  the 
Messiah  was  at  last  to  appear.  But  instead  of  this,  the 
Eomans  irresistibly  advanced  over  the  fore-courts,  and  set 
fire  to  the  retreat  of  these  unfortunates,  shutting  them  in,  to 
die  in  the  flames.  Yet  their  wild  fanaticism  was  immea- 
surably nobler  than  the  hollow  flattery  in  which  Josephus 


424  THE   CATASTROPHE 

afterwards  stooped  to  say,  that  the  words  of  the  Prophets 
referred  to  Vespasian,  and  that  the  expected  Messiah  was 
no  other  than  himself.^  The  Divine  Promise  seemed  to 
have  been  a  mockery,  when  those  still  alive  saw  the 
heathen  standard,  surmounted  by  the  hated  bust  of  the 
emperor  and  the  Eoman  eagle,  planted  where  the  Temple 
had  stood,  and  the  shouts  of  the  soldiers  rose  over  the 
ruins,  proclaiming  Titus  "Imperator" — the  man  who  had 
laid  the  Temple  in  ashes.  When  "the  abomination  of 
desolation  "  thus  stood  before  them  in  the  holy  place,  and 
the  roar  of  triumph  drowned  the  cries  of  the  dying, 
the  courage  of  the  Jews  at  last  gave  way.  The  "  Upper 
City,"  forming  the  south-western  quarter  of  Jerusalem, 
lay  on  what  is  now  called  Zion, — a  rounded  hump  of  lime- 
stone, steep  on  the  west,  south,  and  east  sides,  and  reached 
by  bridges  from  the  Temple  grounds, — was  still  untaken, 
and,  as  the  strongest  part  of  the  town,  after  the  Temple, 
was  capable  of  offering  a  prolonged  resistance.  John  of 
Gischala,  Simon  Gioras,  and  a  great  body  of  fighting  men, 
succeeded  in  cutting  their  way  to  it,  and  established 
themselves  in  the  strongly-fortified  palace  of  Herod,  which 
stood  within  great  walls,  under  the  shadow  of  his  three 
immensely  strong  castles.  To  obtain  possession  of  this 
huge  fortress  the  Eomans  had  to  heap  up  mounds  on 
the  west  side  of  the  hill,  from  the  depth  of  the  valley, 
before  they  could  bring  their  battering-rams  to  bear  on 
the  walls ;  a  task  which  consumed  eighteen  days,  though 
thousands  of  men  toiled  at  the  work  continuously.  Mean- 
while, Titus  systematically  laid  in  ruins  each  part  of  the 
town  as  it  came  into  his  power.  The  houses  on  Ophel,  the 
old  Hill  of  Zion,  once  the  city  of  David,  on  the  rough 

^  Bell.  Jud.  vi.  5,  6. 


THE   FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  425 

slopes  south  of  the  Temple,  were  burned  down.  The  Lower 
Town,  which  filled  the  hundred- feet-deep  valley  below  the 
west  Temple  wall,  was  destroyed  as  ruthlessly ;  the  wreck 
of  the  Temple  courts  and  buildings,  of  the  bridges,  and  of 
the  thickly-packed  houses,  filling  up  the  whole  valley,  so 
that  its  very  existence  has  only  been  proved  by  the  excava- 
tions of  the  last  few  years.  Mounds  of  smoking  ruins  were, 
erelong,  all  that  remained  of  Jerusalem.  The  streets,  as 
known  to  our  Lord,  lay  buried  under  many  feet  of  rubbish. 

The  wails  of  the  "Lamentations"  over  the  Jerusalem 
destroyed  by  the  Chaldeans  were  still  more  true  of  that 
over  which  Eome  had  triumphed.  Jehovah  had  covered  the 
daughter  of  Zion  with  a  cloud  in  His  anger.  He  had  cast 
down  from  heaven  to  earth  the  beauty  of  Israel.  He  had 
swallowed  up  all  the  habitations  of  Jacob ;  He  had  thrown 
down,  in  His  wrath,  the  strongholds  of  the  daughter  of 
Judah.  He  had  burned  up  Jacob  like  a  flaming  fire ;  He 
had  become  an  enemy ;  He  had  swallowed  up  Israel.  Her 
gates  were  sunk  into  the  ground.  The  women  had  eaten 
the  children  they  dandled  in  their  arms.  The  priest  and 
the  prophet  lay  slain  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord.  The 
youth  and  the  old  man  lay  on  the  ground  in  the  streets ; 
the  virgins  and  young  men  had  fallen  by  the  sword. 
Men's  faces  were  black  like  an  oven,  because  of  the  burn- 
ing heat  of  famine.  The  mountain  of  Zion  lay  desolate ; 
the  jackals  walked  over  it.^ 

Numbers  of  the  richer  classes,  however,  managed  to 
escape  capture,  but  vast  crowds,  of  all  conditions,  especially 
of  the  poor,  were  taken  prisoners,  to  be  sold  as  slaves  ;  the 
market  being  so  glutted  with  these  unfortunates,  of  whom 
nearly  100,000  were  thrown  on  it  at  once,  that  their  price 

^  Lamentations,  passim. 


426  THE   CATASTROPHE 

fell  to  the  merest  trifle.^  But  they  had  their  revenge, 
for  the  race  was  thus  spread  more  than  ever,  over 
Italy  and  round  the  Mediterranean,  to  cherish  deadly 
hatred  and  win  countless  proselytes,  through  whose 
children  and  their  own  they  were  hereafter  to  wreak 
terrible  vengeance,  under  Trajan  and  Hadrian,  on  the 
Eoman  populations.  The  robes  of  the  high-priests,  the 
precious  stones,  the  holy  tables,  the  cups,  the  candelabra, 
and  the  hangings,  were  saved  by  order  of  Titus,  to  be 
paraded  at  his  designed  triumph  at  Eome. 

But  the  Upper  City  was  still  held  by  the  desperate 
thousands  who  had  escaped  from  the  capture  and  de- 
struction of  the  Temple  and  all  the  other  portions  of 
Jerusalem.  When,  however,  the  mounds  for  the  engines 
to  attack  this  last  stronghold  were  finished,  the  battering 
rams  were  pushed  up  to  its  walls,  and  began  their  deadly 
work  with  such  vigour  that,  before  long,  part  of  them  had 
fallen.  Famine,  fever,  and  bitter  disappointment  had 
made  the  defenders  only  the  ghosts  of  men;  too  feeble 
and  too  broken-hearted  to  continue  the  strenuous  resist- 
ance of  the  past.  Many  of  them,  indeed,  gave  in,  and 
surrendered;  even  priests  stealing  out  of  their  hiding- 
places,  with  some  of  the  holy  vessels,  to  offer  them  as  a 
possible  ransom  of  their  lives.  Faith  in  the  future  of  the 
nation  was  for  the  moment  gone.  Simon  and  John  were 
both  taken;  their  attempts  to  hide  in  subterranean  pas- 
sages having  failed.  The  Upper  City  was,  thus,  speedily 
mastered ;  to  be  razed  to  the  ground,  forthwith ;  only  the 
barracks,  and  Herod's  towers  being  spared,  for  quarters  to 
the  tenth  legion,  which  was  told  off  as  a  permanent  gar- 
rison, over  the  ruins,  to  prevent  any  attempt  at  rebuilding. 

1  Bdl.  Jud.  vi.  9,  37. 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  427 

On  the  8th  September,  a.d.  70,  all  resistance  ceased. 
The  houses  destroyed  had  been  full  of  corpses,  and,  now, 
all  those  who  were  unable  to  march  with  the  troops  were 
remorselessly  put  to  death.  The  fate  of  the  survivors 
was  awful.  Driven  with  cruel  violence  into  a  vast  herd, 
by  the  soldiers,  they  were  finally  separated  into  classes, — 
to  fight  as  gladiators  in  the  theatres  of  the  great  pro- 
vincial towns, — butchered  to  make  a  Eoman  holiday. 
Marcus  Aurelius  speaks  of  wretches  half-devoured  by 
wild  beasts  in  the  arena  at  Eome,  begging  hard  to  be 
put  back,  though  they  knew  they  would  have  to  face  the 
same  beasts  to-morrow,  and  so,  we  are  told,  it  was,  now, 
in  the  amphitheatres  of  many  provincial  cities,  favoured 
by  public  spectacles  of  Jewish  captives  exposed  to  death 
in  every  form,  for  the  amusement  of  the  populace. 
Stretched  on  the  rack,  burnt,  scourged,  crucified,  half- 
torn  by  wild  beasts,  and  then  taken  away  and  kept  for 
a  second  encounter,  their  agonies  served  as  an  inexhaus- 
tible entertainment  to  the  heathen,  especially  at  Beyrout, 
in  the  presence  of  Titus,  to  celebrate  his  birthday.^  All 
above  seventeen  were  sent  off,  with  fetters  on  their  legs, 
to  fight  in  the  amphitheatres,  with  wild  beasts,  or  with 
each  other,  or  to  toil  as  slaves  of  the  State,  in  Egypt,  on 
public  works.  Those  under  seventeen  were  sold  in  the 
slave  markets  to  any  buyer.  The  sorting  out  of  the 
prisoners  took  several  days,  during  which  thousands  died, 
some  from  hunger;  no  food  being  given  them:  others 
from  refusing  to  accept  any.  The  next  weeks  were  em- 
ployed in  demolishing  what  remained  of  the  city,  in 
throwing  down  the  walls,  and  in  searching  the  sewers 
and  underground  passages  for  fugitives  in  hiding.      In 

1  BeU.  Jud.  vii.  3,  1 ;  S,  7. 


428  THE   CATASTROPHE 

these  dark  retreats  great  amounts  of  money  and  other 
wealth  were  discovered,  and  also  many  insurgents,  who 
were  at  once  killed.  More  than  2000  corpses  were  found 
in  them  and  also  some  prisoners,  captured  by  the  Irre- 
concilables.  John  of  Gischala,  compelled  by  hunger 
to  come  out,  was  condemned  to  perpetual  imprisonment. 
Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  having  a  supply  of  food,  was  able 
to  hide  till  October.  Clad  in  a  white  robe,  with  a  purple 
mantle  over  it,  he  then  stole  out  of  the  subways  at  a  spot 
near  the  Temple  site ;  thinking  to  frighten  the  soldiers 
by  passing  for  a  ghost,  or  perhaps  for  the  Messiah.  But 
he  was  at  once  seized  and  taken  to  the  commanding 
officer,  to  be  set  apart,  presently,  for  transport  to  Eome, 
as  one  of  the  leading  captives  in  the  triumph  of  Titus. 
But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  his  miseries,  for  as 
the  great  procession  of  the  conqueror  passed  the  Mamer- 
tine  prison,  under  the  Capitol,  he  was  led  away  to  a 
contemptuous  death,  by  being  thrown  down  from  the 
top  of  the  Tarpeian  Eock.  By  the  end  of  September 
Jerusalem  had  disappeared,  excepting  the  towers  of 
Herod,  and  the  barracks,  and  it  lay  thus  in  great  mounds 
of  ruin  till  Hadrian  rebuilt  it,  as  ^lia  Capitolina,  about 
the  year  122. 

While  the  whole  empire  was  rejoicing  at  the  victory 
of  Titus,  the  conqueror  forgot,  in  the  arms  of  the  frail 
Berenice,  the  awful  scenes  he  had  witnessed,  till  his  long- 
ing to  show  himself  in  Eome,  and  enjoy  the  glory  of  a 
triumph,  drove  him  thither.  There,  the  spectacle  was 
worthy  at  once  of  the  greatness  of  the  empire  and  the 
brutality  of  the  age.  Medals  were  struck :  the  great 
arch  that  bears  the  name  of  the  conqueror  rose  as  a  com- 
memoration of  his  victory,  and  still  gives  us  a  glimpse 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  429 

of  one  portion  of  the  great  procession  which  intoxicated 


3 

O 


■^•^ 


8  ^ 

0!       O 


o 
a. 

o 

M 


Kome  with  its  variety  and  splendour.     Endless  ranks  of 


430 


THE   CATASTROPHE 


laurelled  veterans  of  every  province  of  the  Roman 
world,  from  the  fair  Briton  to  the  swarthy  Arab,  and  as 
contrasted  in  arms  and  dress,  marched  amidst  the  strains 
of  music  and  loud  trumpet  flourishes,  through  the  narrow, 
crowded  streets,  towards  the  Capitol.  Guarded  by  the 
soldiery,  the  prisoners  of  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  followed, 
in  countless  weary  files.  Painted  banners,  borne  aloft, 
displayed  the  chief  incidents  of  the  war,  and  a  personi- 
fication of  the  Jordan  as  a  river-god,  looked  down  from 


Medal  commemorating  the  taking  of  Jerusalem. 

above  the  shoulders  of  its  bearers.  Then  came  the  spoil, 
and,  as  part  of  it,  the  holy  furniture,  and  the  adornments 
and  vessels  of  the  Temple ;  the  table  of  shewbread,  the 
seven-branched  candlestick,  and  the  sacred  rolls  of  the 
Law,  as  we  see  them  still,  carved  on  the  triumphal 
arch.  Behind  this  spoil  of  the  sanctuary,  Ptoman  youths 
bore  proudly  the  image  of  the  god  of  Victory,  who,  as 
they  fancied,  had  so  gloriously  honoured  the  Roman  arms, 
and  then,  amidst  a  blaze  of  military  splendour,  came 
Titus.     The  pageant  stopped  at  the  temple  of  Jupiter 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


431 


Capitolinus  till  word  came  that  sentence  had  been  carried 
out  on  Simon  ben  Gioras.  And  thus,  with  immeasurable 
pomp  and  rejoicing  of  the  heathen,  were  celebrated  the 
funeral  rites  of  the  Jewish  State.  The  spoil  of  the 
Temple  was,  at  a  later  time,  placed  by  Vespasian  in  a 
temple  built  by  him  to  Peace ;  the  curtain  that  had  hung 
before  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  the  rolls  of  the  Law  taken 
from  that  sacred  chamber,  being,  however,  brought  to 
Vespasian's  palace. 

So  passed  away  the  dream  of  centuries.     Not  Eome 


Coin  of  Vespasian  commemorating  the  conquest  of  Judaea. 

but  Jerusalem  had  perished;  the  "horns  of  the  Beast," 
the  proconsuls  of  the  empire,  had  remained  subordinate, 
and  the  power  of  the  world-city,  under  the  Flavian  house 
and  its  successors,  had  yet  centuries  to  run.  Xor  had  it 
even  attained  its  full  splendour,  for  its  greatest  glory  was 
to  come,  generations  later,  under  the  Antonines.  The 
reign  of  Christ  in  Jerusalem,  during  a  thousand  years, 
over  the  saints  and  martyrs  raised  from  the  grave  to 
surround  Him,  receded  into  an  unknown  future,  and  Gog 
and  Magog  remained  still  hostile  to  the  Cross. 

It  was  reckoned  that  over  900,000  prisoners  had  been 
taken  in  Galilee  and  Judaea,  and  that  over  a  million  had 


432 


THE   CATASTROPHE 


been  killed  in  Jerusalem  and  elsewhere   but  theirs  had 
been  the  happier  fate.     There  was  no  prophet-poet  now. 


Arch  of  Titus. 


to  see  Eachel,  descended  from  the  heavens,  or  come  up 
from  the  grave,  weeping  for  her  children  on  the  bare 


THE  FALL  OF  JERUSALEM  433 

hills  of  Benjamin,  for  their  fair  city  had  perished  from 
the  earth,  and  her  land  was  silent  and  desolate  ;  her  sons 
slain  or  led  off  to  shameful  slavery,  or  to  make  sport  in 
heathen  amphitheatres,  by  mortal  combat  with  each  other 
or  with  wild  beasts ;  her  daughters  delivered  over  to 
disgrace  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiery,  or  from  the  steps 
of  the  slave  market.  They  had  put  away  from  them  the 
things  of  their  peace  which  Jesus  had  offered  them,  and 
His  blood  had  only  too  truly  come  back  on  those  who 
had  pierced  Him,  and  on  their  children. 

The  temple  of  Peace,  built  by  Vespasian,  and  made  the 
treasure-house  of  the  spoils  of  the  Temple,  was  burned 
down  little  more  than  a  century  later,  under  Commodus, 
but  it  is  maintained  that  these  priceless  relics  were  saved 
from  the  conflagration.  An  unreliable  tradition  reports 
that  the  golden  candlestick  was  lost  in  the  Tiber  when 
Maxentius,  defeated  by  Constantine,  was  trying  to  cross 
the  Milvian  Bridge,  but  another  legend  tells  us  that  it 
and  the  other  Hebrew  treasures,  were  carried  off  by 
Genseric  the  Vandal,  to  Africa,  though  it  is  also  alleged 
that  they  were  taken  to  France  by  Alaric,  and  being 
found  by  the  Emperor  Theodoric,  were  brought  back  to 
Eavenna.  But  the  Genseric  tradition  is  supplemented  by 
the  statement  that  Belisarius  recovered  what  the  Vandal 
had  taken  to  Africa,  and  sent  it  to  Constantinople,  from 
which.  Gibbon  tells  us,  they  were  said  to  have  been  carried 
to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem.  This 
is  all  that  even  rumour  has  to  tell,  so  that  we  may  only 
too  confidently  assume  that  these  last  remembrances  of 
the  city  of  Christ's  day  have  perished.^ 

^  A  great  deal  of  information  on  this  and  other  related  subjects  will  be 
found  in  "The  Arch  of  Titus,"  by  the  Rev.  W.  Knight,  M.A. 

IV.  2  E 


CHAPTEE   XVIII 

ST.  John's  epistles 

The  testimony  of  antiquity  stamps  the  First  Epistle  of 
John  as  a  sacred  legacy  from  the  beloved  disciple,  and 
in  the  face  of  the  identity  in  style,  expression,  and  modes 
of  thought,  characterising  his  Gospel  and  this  echo  of  its 
tone  and  spirit,  the  fanciful  suggestion  of  some  modern 
critics  that  it  is  only  an  abstract  of  the  fourth  Gospel, 
by  some  unknown  writer,  is  not  worthy  of  serious  notice. 
Every  verse  bears  the  stamp  of  apostolic  authority,  nor 
is  it  any  objection  that  there  is  no  introductory  or  closing 
salutation,  since  this  marks  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
also,  while  the  absence  of  such  a  farewell  at  its  close  is 
found  in  the  Epistle  of  St.  James.  To  whom  it  was  ad- 
dressed, may  be  decided  from  the  undoubted  residence  of 
St.  John  in  Asia  Minor,  after  the  death  of  St.  Paul,  while 
the  evidence  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  that  heresy 
of  the  Gnostic  type,  had  early  shown  itself  in  the  region 
of  that  province  in  which  John  resided,  leaves  little  ground 
for  doubt  that  he  now  wrote  to  the  churches  in  it,  to 
guard  them,  as  a  whole,  from  the  false  teaching  that 
assailed  them.  We  may  therefore,  with  no  serious  hesi- 
tation, assume  that  it  was  sent  to  them  from  Ephesus, 
John's  headquarters.  That  it  was  written  in  the  later 
apostolic  time  is  certain,  for  its  whole  tone  speaks  of  an 
old  man  as  its  author,  while  the  errors  it  denounces  are 


FIRST  EPISTLE   GENERAL  OF  JOHN  435 

those  of  later  growth,  and  there  is  no  longer  such  dispute 
respecting  Jewish  and  Pauline  converts  as  marks  an  earlier 
day.  When  it  was  written  has  been  variously  conjectured 
by  different  critics,  but  in  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  exact 
time,  it  seems,  on  all  grounds,  most  probable,  that  it  dates 
from  some  time  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  but  before  the 
close  of  the  first  century ;  the  extreme  age  to  which  John 
survived,  leaving  the  exact  time  of  its .  composition  im- 
possible to  decide. 

The  First  Epistle  General  op  John. 

I.  1.  That  manifestation  of  God  which  was  from  the  be- 
ginning— that  which  we  have  heard  from  Himself — that  which 
we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  and  our  bauds  have  handled — 
2.  concerning  the  Word  of  Life  —  Jesus  Christ,  Himself 
the  Life — for  in  Him  "  The  Life  "  was  manifested,  and  we 
have  seen,  and  bear  witness,  and  declare  to  you  The  Life — the 
Eternal  Life,  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  manifested 
to  us,  men ; — 3.  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  concerning 
Him  declare  we  to  you  also,  that  you  also  may  have  fellowship 
in  Him,  with  us :  yea,  and  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father, 
and  with  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ : — 4.  and,  on  this  account  do 
we  write  that  your  joy  may  be  filled  to  the  full,  through  this 
common  relation  of  Sonship  to  God. 

5.  And  this  is  the  sum  of  the  message  which  we  have  heard 
from  Him — the  Son  of  God,  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  which 
we  make  known  to  you, — that  God  is  light — absolute  holiness 
and  truth,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all — no  sin;  no 
untruth.  1 

He  only  who  does  not  walk  in  darkness,  has  fellowship, 
or  communion  with  God. 

6.  If  we  say  that  we  have  fellowship  with  Him,  and  yet 
walk  in  the  darkness,^  we  lie,  for  fellowship,  or  spiritual  one- 

^  John  L  4,  6,  8-10 ;  James  i.  13,  17.  ^  John  viii 


436  ST.    JOHN'S   EPISTLES 

ness  with  God,  which  is  the  soul  of  all  truly  Christian  life, 
is  incompatible  with  any  inner  contradiction  like  that,  and 
we  do  not  the  truth — that  which  is  in  harmony  with  the 
nature  and  will  of  God  :  ^  7.  but  if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as 
He,  God,  is  in  the  light,  as  His  element,  we  have  fellowship, 
in  the  true  sense,  one  with  another,  as  like  with  like,  and 
only  through  this  fellowship  of  "the  children  of  light "^  can 
we  find  forgiveness  of  sin  and  rescue  from  its  power,  and  find 
that  the  blood  of  Jesus,  His  Son,  cleanses  us  from  all  sin,^ 
and  makes  us  pure  as  God  is  pure>  8.  But  this  implies  the 
presence  of  sin  and  the  consciousness  of  its  presence,  even 
among  believers,  so  that  if  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we 
deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth — the  realisation  of  it  which 
comes  from  self-examination  and  self-knowledge — is  not  in  us.^ 
9.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  penitently  confess  our  sins, 
frankly  and  openly,  one  to  another,^  He,  God,  is  faithful  to 
His  promise  and  righteous,  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness.  10.  Indeed,  if  we  say 
that  we  have  not  sinned,  we  make  Him  a  liar,  since  He  has 
taken  pity  on  us  as  sinners,  and  His  word,  which  promises 
and  brings  forgiveness  of  sin,  is  not  in  us,  but  we  are  like 
those  of  the  Gnostic  schools,  who  maintain  that  they  are 
sinless,  and  cannot  sin. 

Sinlessness  is  not  presupposed  in  Christians,  but  is  the 
aim  and  end  of  all  Christian  teaching. 

II.  1.  Therefore  my  little  children,  I  write  these  things  to 
you,  that  you  may  not  sin.  And  if  any  man  among  you,  in 
spite  of  his  knowing  better,  should  sin,  and  truly  repents,^  we 
have  an  Advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous ; 
for  only  righteousness  can  plead  for  unrighteousness :  ^  2.  and 

1  John  iii.  21  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  14  ;  Eph.  v.  8.  ^  jo^n  xii.  36. 

3  Heb.  ix.  13,  14.  ^  ^att.  v.  48  ;  1  Pet.  i.  18. 

^  John  viii.  31-34  ;  ix.  41.  ^  James  v.  16. 

7  Gal.  vi.  1,  ;  Rom.  vii.  15  ff. 

8  James  v.  16  ;  Rom.  viii.  34 ;  Heb.  ix.  24. 


FIRST   EPISTLE   GENERAL   OF   JOHN  437 

He  is  able  to  do  this,  for  He  is  the  propitiation,  or  expiation, 
for  our  sins  :  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world. ^ 

Walking  in  light  is  walking  in  love. 

3.  And  hereby  we  know  that  we  truly  know  Him,  God,  if  we 
keep  His  commandments  :  failing  to  do  which  we  have  only 
a  false  Gnostic  intellectual  apprehension  of  Him.  4.  He, 
therefore,  that  says,  "I  know  Him,"  and  yet  does  not  keep 
His  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  him  : 
5.  but  he  who  keeps  His  word,  in  him,  assuredly,  the  love  of 
God, — that  is  due  to  God,  has  been  perfected.  By  this  we 
know  that  we  are  in  Him  :  6.  he  that  says  he  abideth  in 
Him,  God,  ought  himself  also  to  walk  even  as  He,  Christ, 
walked,  who  abode  in  His  Father's  love.^ 

7.  Beloved,  no  new  commandment  write  I  unto  you,'^  but 
an  old  commandment  which  ye  had  from  the  beginning  of 
your  Christian  life ;  the  "  old  commandment "  is  the  word 
which  ye  have  heard  from  the  apostles — the  commandment 
of  Love,  which  is  as  old  as  Christianity.  8.  But  now, 
looking  at  it  from  another  side,  I  may  say,  that  I  write, 
again,  a  new  commandment  to  you,  which  new  aspect  of  the 
old  command  is  true  in  respect  to  Him  and  dwells  in  you ; 
because  the  darkness,  the  state  of  sin  and  blindness,  is  pass- 
ing away  from  the  world,  and  the  true  light  already  shines. 
9.  He  who,  poisoned  by  the  false  idea  that^  as  a  Gnostic,  he 
has  the  germ  of  true  light  or  knowledge,  and  says  that  he  is 
in  the  light,  and,  in  his  pride  of  this,  hates  his  fellow-Chris- 
tian, is  still,  to  this  time,  in  the  darkness.  10.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  that  loves  his  fellow-Christian  dwells  abidingly 
in  the  light,  and  there  is  no  ground  of  stumbling  in  his  case, 
for  love  keeps  him  from  falling,  and  shaming  the  faith.  11. 
But  he  that  hateth  his  brother  is  in  the  darkness,  and  walks 
in  the  darkness  of  sin,  and  knows  not  whither  he  goes, 
because  the  darkness  has  blinded  his  eyes. 

^  John  i.  29.  2  Jq\^^  ^v.  10.  ^  jo^n  ^iii.  34. 


438  ST.  John's  epistles 

12.  I  write  to  you,  my  little  children,  who  though  Christians, 
have  not  attained  the  ripeness  of  Christian  manhood  as 
yetj  because  your  sins  are  forgiven  you  for  His  name's  sake, 
as  your  Advocate  and  propitiation.  13.  I  write  to  you, 
fathers,  because  ye  know  Him  who  is  from  the  beginning. 
I  write  to  you,  young  men,  because  ye  have  overcome  the  evil 
one.  I  have  written  to  you,  little  children,  because  ye  know 
the  Father.  14.  I  have  written,  I  say,  to  you,  fathers, 
because  ye,  as  becomes  men  come  to  thoughtful  years,  know 
Him  who  is  from  the  beginning.  I  have  written  to  you, 
young  men,  because  you,  who  have  to  serve  in  active  Chris- 
tian life,  are  strong,  and  the  word  of  God,  the  source  of 
strength,  abideth  in  you,  and,  thus  prepared  for  doing  so,  ye 
have  overcome  the  evil  one.  15.  And  now  I  say  to  you  all, 
love  not  the  world — love  of  which  is  the  opposite  of  the  love 
God  requires — neither  the  things  that  are  in  the  world,  which 
attract  the  "  natural  man."  For  if  any  man  love  the  world, 
otherwise  than  as  God  loves  it,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not 
in  him.  16.  For  the  child  of  God  can  only  love  what  has  its 
source  in  God ;  but  all  that  is  in  the  world — the  lust  of  the 
flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  fond  of  the  luxury  and  the  hateful 
pleasures  of  the  day — and  the  vainglory  of  life,  is  not  of  the 
Father,  but  is  of  the  world.  17.  And,  yet,  the  world  passes 
away,  and  that  which  men  of  the  world  lust  after;  but  he 
who  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever. 

Warning  against  the  enemies  of  Christianity  —  the 
Antichrist — whose  appearance  shows  that  the  last  hour 
of  the  present  state  of  things  has  come. 

18.  Little  children,  it  is  the  last  hour  !  and  as  ye  have  often 
heard  from  us  that  Antichrist  comes,  so,  even  now,  many 
antichrists  have  arisen ;  from  which  we  know  that  the  world 
is  ripe  for  judgment,  and  therefore  that  it  is  the  last  hour 
before  that  comes ! 

The  distinctive  title  of  Antichrist  is  not  assigned,  in 


FIRST  EPISTLE   GENERAL  OF  JOHN  439 

these  words,  to  any  individual,  but  the  existence  of  many 
who,  as  false  teachers,  carry  out  the  aim  of  Antichrist, 
by  seeking  to  pervert  the  Truth,  is  used  as  a  sign  that  he 
is  at  hand.  This  is  closely  in  keeping  with  St.  Paul's 
language,  that  "the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition," 
would  speedily  follow  "the  falling  away"  which  he 
foresaw.^  The  Jews  expected  a  Messiah  of  their  own,^ 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  apostles  expected  Antichrist  in 
the  form  of  heathen  Eome  under  its  emperor,  as  the 
instrument  of  Satan — "the  dragon,"  and  "old  serpent." 

These  false  teachers,  or  Antichrists,  had  been  actually 
amongst  the  brotherhood,  as  members  of  it,  but  had  sepa- 
rated from  them  when  John  was  writing  his  epistle. 

19.  They  went  out  from  us,^  to  set  up  new  Gnostic  schools, 
in  addition  to  those  already  in  vogue,  outside  the  churches ; 
for  if  they  had  been  really  of  us,  as  true  believers,  they  would 
have  continued  with  us,  but  they  went  out  that  it  might  be 
clearly  shown  that  they  all — as  a  body — were  not  of  us.^ 

As  to  those  to  whom  the  apostle  writes,  he  bears  wit- 
ness that  they  know  the  truth. 

20.  And  ye  know  this,  for  ye  have  an  anointing  from  the 
Holy  One,  the  Holy  Spirit,  consecrating  you  as  believers,  as 
kings  and  priests  were  consecrated  by  the  anointing  oil,  and 
ye  know  all  things  respecting  the  truth.  Those  who  have  left 
you  pose  as  alone  enjoying  secret  and  deep  knowledge  of 
divine  things,  and  spiritual  illumination,  but  you  have  both ; 
they  have  neither.  21.  I  have  not,  therefore,  written  to  you 
because  you  do  not  know  the  truth,  but  because  you  do  know 
it,  and,  hence,  must  know  that  no  lie  is  of  the  truth. 

1  2  Thess.  ii.  3  fif.  2  j^j^^  v.  43  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  23,  24. 

»  Acts  XX.  30.  *  1  Cor.  xi.  19. 


440  ST.   JOHN'S   EPISTLES 

He  now  gives  them  more  definite  signs  of  Anticbristian 
lies. 

22.  Who  is  the  liar  I  mean,  when  I  speak  thus,  but  he 
that  denies  that  Jesns  is  the  Christ  ?  He  who  acknowledges 
Jesus  simply  as  a  man,  and  not,  also,  as,  in  truth,  the  Christ,  the 
Sent  of  God,  and  His  Anointed  and  exclusive  Revealer,  im- 
pugns the  fundamental  articles  of  the  faith,  and,  hence,  this 
person  is  the  antichrist  and  liar,  who  denies  in  this  way  both 
the  Father  and  tbe  Son;  23.  for  whosoever  denies  the  Son 
has*  not  the  Father,  that  is,  neither  knows  nor  honours  Him : 
but  he  who  confesses  that  Jesus  is  the  Son,  by  accepting  Him 
as  the  Christ,  has  the  Father  also.  24.  As  for  you,  let  that 
abide  in  you  which  ye  heard  from  the  beginning;  for  if  that 
which  ye  heard  from  the  beginning  abide  in  you,  ye  also  shall 
abide  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Father,  and  inherit  the  promise. 
25.  And  this  is  the  promise  which  He,  Christ,  promised  us, 
even  the  life  eternal. 

Close  of  the  notice  of  the  Antichrist. 

26.  These  things  have  I  written  to  you  concerning  them 
that  would  lead  you  astray.  27.  As  to  yourselves,  the  anoint- 
ing which  ye  received  of  Him — the  Holy  Spirit — abideth  in 
you,  and  ye  need  not  that  any  one  teach  you  what  is  the 
truth  ;  but  as  His  anointing  teaches  you  concerning  all  things  ^ 
and  is  true,  and  is  no  lie  :  and  I  rejoice  to  say,  even  as  it.  His 
anointing,  taught  you,  ye  do  abide  in  him,  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Christians  are  pledged  to  righteousness,  by  which  they 
show  that  they  are  sons  of  God ;  not  children  of  the  evil  one. 

28.  And  now,  my  little  children,  see  that  ye  abide  in  Him ; 
that  if,  as  indeed,  is  the  case,  He,  Christ,  shall  be  manifested 
ye  may  have  boldness,  and  not  be  ashamed  before  Him  at  His 
coming.  And  to  make  this  sure — 29.  if  ye  know,  as  ye  do, 
that  He  is  righteous,  ye  know  that  every  one  also,  that  doeth 
righteousness,  and  such  an  one  only,  is  begotten  of  Him. 
1  John  xiv.  26  ;  xvi.  13  j  1  Cor.  ii.  12  ;  xii.  8-11. 


FIKST  EPISTLE  GENEKAL  OF  JOHN  441 

III.  1.  Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  has  be- 
stowed on  us,  that  we  should  be  called  children  of  God ;  and 
yet  such  we  are.  Therefore  the  world,  hating  God  and  know- 
ing nothing  of  Him,  does  not  know  us  as  His  sons,  because  it 
did  not  know  Him,  even  when  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Divine  Son.^  2.  Yet,  beloved,  even  now,  amidst  all  our  low- 
liness and  troubles,  we  are,  indeed,  children  of  God,  and  it  is 
not  yet  made  fully  manifest,  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we  know 
that,  if  He  be  manifested,  as  we  know  He  shall  be,  we  shall 
be  like  Him ;  for  we  shall  see  Him,  who  even  on  earth  dis- 
played the  glory  of  God,  even  as  He  then  is,  in  His  heavenly 
glory ;  ^  for  as  those  see  Him  who  are  like  Him,^  our  being 
so,  in  part,  here,  will  ensure  our  being  made  wholly  so  there. 

3.  Such  an  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory  awaiting  the 
children  of  God,  every  one  who  has  this  hope  resting  upon  him, 
purifies  himself,  even  as  He,  Christ,  is  pure,*  as  becomes  pil- 
grims to  the  heavenly  city ;  for  even  pilgrims  to  the  city  of 
God  on  earth  must  be  pure  to  be  allowed  to  approach  Him. 

4.  Every  one  who  fails  to  do  this,  on  the  contrary,  com- 
mits sin,  and  breaks  God's  law,  for  sin  is  rebellion  against 
it.  Those  therefore  who  teach  that  Christians  may  do 
what  conscience  proclaims  wrong,  are  rebels  against  God, 
and  the  so-called  higher  knowledge  on  which  they  ground 
their  acting  thus  is  a  lie.^  5.  And,  further,  ye  know,  in 
your  own  experience,  that  He  was  manifested  to  take  away 
sins;  and  that  in  Him  is  no  sin.  6.  Therefore  whosoever 
abideth  in  Him  sinneth  not :  and  whosoever  sinneth  has  not 
seen  Him,  neither  knoweth  Him. 

This  distortion  of  the  truth  by  apologising  for  sin  was 
the  most  dangerous  side  of  the  false  teaching  prevalent, 
and  therefore  they  are  specially  warned  against  it. 

7.  My  little  children,  let  no  man  lead  you  astray  in  this ; 

»  John  XV.  18,  19  ;  xiv.  17  ;  xv.  21-24  ;  xvi.  3.         ^  2  Cor.  iii.  18. 

'  1  Cor.  xiii.  12  ;  Rev.  xxii.  4  ;  Matt.  v.  8. 

*  John  XV.  2,  3  ;  xvii.  17 ;  2  Cor.  vi.  17  ;  vii.  1 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  13,  14. 

»  1  John  ii.  21,  27. 


442  ST.    JOHN'S   EPISTLES 

he  only  who  practises,  and  not  merely  talks  of,  righteousness, 
is  righteous,  in  the  true  sense,  that  is,  as  He,  Christ,  is 
righteous ;  8.  but  he  that  practises  sin  is  of  the  devil :  for 
the  devil  sinneth  from  the  beginning.  Indeed,  to  this  end 
was  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  manifested — that  He  might  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil.  9.  Whosoever,  therefore,  is  begotten 
of  God  doeth  no  sin,  because  His,  God's,  seed.  His  creative 
spiritual  power,  the  germ  of  life,  abideth  in  Him :  and  He 
cannot  willingly  sin,  because  He  is  begotten  of  God.  10. 
Hence,  in  this  the  children  of  God  are  manifest,  as  by  a  sure 
mark,  and  so  are  the  children  of  the  devil :  whosoever,  there- 
fore, doeth  not  righteousness  is  not  of  God,  nor,  to  speak 
more  closely,  is  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother. 

Of  true  brotherly  love  between  Christians. 

11.  For  this  is  the  message  which  ye  heard  from  the  be- 
ginning, that  we  should  love  one  another  ;i  12.  not  being,  like 
Cain,  who  was  a  son  of  the  evil  one,  and  slew  his  brother.  And 
wherefore  slew  he  him  1  Because  his  works  were  evil,  and 
his  brother's  righteous. ^  The  opposite  source  of  their  spiritual 
birth  estranged  even  natural  brothers ;  but  the  spiritual  birth 
of  Christians,  from  above,  unites  even  strangers,  in  true  love. 

13.  Hence,  marvel  not,  brethren,  if  the  world  hate  you,^ 
for  Cain  is  the  type  of  it.  14.  But  we  know  that  we  do  not 
belong  to  it,  but  have  passed  out  of  the  death  in  which  we  lay 
while  we  did  so  into  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren.  He 
that  loveth  not,  abideth  still  in  spiritual  death.  15.  For 
whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is,  like  Cain,  a  murderer :  and 
ye  know  that  no  murderer  has  eternal  life  abiding  in  him. 
16.  For  we  know  what  love  is,  through  this,  that  he,  Christ, 
laid  down  His  life  for  us  :  and  so,  instead  of  entertaining 
hate,  which  might  take  a  brother's  life,  we  ought,  rather, 
to  lay  down  our  own  lives  for  the  brethren.  17.  But  do 
you  all   act  up  to   this  ideal?      Alas,   some   come  short 

1  John  XV.  12 ;  Rom.  xiii.  8,  10 ;  Gal.  v.  14  ;  CoL  iii.  14. 
*  John  viii.  39,  41,  44.  '  John  xv.  18,  19. 


FIRST   EPISTLE   GENERAL   OF   JOHN  443 

even  in  small  proofs  of  brotherly  love.  But  whoso  has  the 
world's  goods,  and  beholdeth  his  brother  in  need,  and  shutteth 
up  his  compassion  from  him,  how  does  the  love  of  God  abide 
in  him  1  18.  My  little  children,  let  us  not  love  in  word  only, 
neither  with  the  tongue  only ;  but  in  deed  and  truth. 

True  brotherly  love  is  born  of  the  true  Faith,  and  the 
confession  of  it. 

19.  If,  therefore,  we  purify  ourselves  from  hate  and  all 
other  sin,  even  as  Christ  is  pure,^  hereby  shall  we  know  that 
we  are  of  the  truth,  and  shall  assure  our  heart  of  pardon 
through  our  Advocate,  Christ,  for  the  sins  on  account  of 
which  it  condemns  us,  when  we  examine  ourselves  before 
Him  ;  20.  because  God  is  greater  than  our  heart,  and  knoweth 
all  things — Christ's  intercession,  as  well  as  our  oflfence.  21. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  beloved,  our  heart  condemn  us  not,  we 
have  boldness  towards  God ;  22.  and  whatsoever  we  ask,  we 
receive  of  Him,  because  we  keep  His  commandments,  and  do 
the  things  that  are  pleasing  in  His  sight.  23.  And  this  is 
His  commandment,  that  we  should  believe  in  the  name  of  His 
Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  love  one  another,  even  as  He  gave  us 
commandment.  24.  And  he  that  keepeth  His  commandments 
abideth  in  Him,  and  He  in  him.  And  hereby  we  know  that 
He  abideth  in  us,  by  the  Spirit,  which  He  gave  us. 

Eenewed  warning  against  the  false  teachers. 

TV.  1.  Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit  claiming  to  be  that 
of  a  prophet  or  teacher,  but  prove  the  spirits,^  by  the  rules 
established  among  us,  whether  they  be  of  God  :  because  many 
false  prophets  are  gone  out,  from  the  churches,  into  the  world. 
2.  To  help  you  in  this,  I  give  you  a  special  mark  of  a  false 
prophet.  Hereby  know  ye  whether  a  man  speaks  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  :  every  spirit  speaking  through  a  teacher,  which 
confesses  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  ;  contrary  to 

^  John  Hi.  3. 
2  1  Oor.  xil  10 ;  xiv.  29  j  1  Thess.  v.  21  ;  Matt,  vil  15 ;  xxiv.  11,  24. 


444  ST.  John's  epistles 

those  who,  now,  teach  that  the  divine  Saviour  was  only  out- 
wardly and  temporarily  united  to  the  man  Jesus,  thus  making 
Him  as  our  Saviour,  only  a  phantom  or  illusion, — is  of  God  : 
3.  and,  in  the  same  way,  every  spirit  speaking  through  a 
"prophet"  which  confesseth  not  Jesus,  as  we  confess  Him, 
is  not  of  God  :  and,  indeed,  this  is  the  spirit — the  essence — of 
the  Antichrist,  whereof  ye  have  heard  that  it  cometh  ;  and 
as  these  prove  is  actually  in  the  world  already.  4.  But  ye 
are  of  God,  my  little  children,  and  have  overcome  them — 
these  false  prophets,  and  have  driven  them  out  from  among 
you  ;  because  He  who  is  in  you  is  greater  than  he,  Satan, 
that  is  in  the  world. ^  5.  They  are  of  the  world,  the  sphere 
of  all  that  is  against  God,  and  thus  the  home  and  scene  of 
action  of  these  false  teachers  :  and  therefore  they  speak  as 
of  the  world,  and  the  world — the  children  of  evil,  hears  them. 
6.  But  we  apostles,  and  those  we  send  forth,  are  of  God, 
and  therefore  he  that  knows  God  hears  us,  because  he  is  of 
God ;  but  he  that  is  not  of  God  does  not  hear  us.  By  this 
we  know  the  spirit  of  truth,  and  the  spirit  of  error. 

A  further  sign  of  our  being  of  God. 

7.  Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another :  for  love  is  of  God,  as 
its  source,  and  therefore  every  one  who  truly  loves  his  brother 
is  begotten  of  God  and  knows  God.  8.  This,  indeed,  is  the 
mark  of  true  knowledge,  in  contrast  to  that  of  your  Gnostic 
troublers,  which  is  knowledge  falsely  so  called, ^  and  hence 
he  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not  God ;  for  God  is  love, — not 
mere  light,  and  spirit,  as  the  Gnostics  tell  you.  9.  And  that 
it  is  so,  is  clear,  for  herein  was  that  love  of  God,  that  is  the 
essence  of  His  nature,  manifested  in  us  and  to  us,  that  God 
has  sent  His  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  we  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sin  might  live  through  Him. 
10.  That  love  did  not  spring  from  us  to  Him,  but  flowed,  free 
and  spontaneous,  from  Him  to  us,  is  no  less  clear,  for  herein 
is  the  very  soul  of  love ;  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He 

»  John  xii.  31  ;  xiv.  30  ;  xvi.  11.          ^  i  xim.  vi.  20;  1  Cor.  viii.  1-3. 


FIRST  EPISTLE   GENERAL  OF  JOH^  445 

loved  us  while  we  were  His  enemies/  and  sent  His  Son  to  be 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  11.  Beloved,  if  God  so  loved 
us,  we  ought,  also,  to  love  one  another.  12.  But  love 
towards  God  cannot  directly  reach  Him,  its  object,  for  no 
man  has  seen  God  at  any  time,  and,  thus,  to  love  our 
neighbour,  as  His  child,  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  can 
practically  show  our  love  to  Him,  and,  hence,  if  we  love 
one  another,  God  abideth  in  us,  and  the  love  of  Him  is  per- 
fected in  us.  13.  Hereby,  moreover,  we  know  that  we  thus 
abide  in  Him,  and  He  in  us,  because,  as  those  who  love 
Him,  He  has  given  us  the  gifts  and  graces  of  His  Spirit. 
14.  Nor  need  ye  fear  to  trust  our  words,  for  we  apostles 
have  seen  with  our  eyes,  have  looked  upon,  and  our  hands 
have  handled  Him  who  was  the  Word  of  Life,  and  were  eye- 
witnesses of  His  majesty,  and  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as 
of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth,^ 
and  can  thus  bear  true  witness  that  the  Father  hath  sent  the 
Son  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  15.  The  "abiding  in 
God,"  that  is,  in  loving  union  to  Him,  in  which  true  Chris- 
tianity consists,  rests,  therefore,  not  on  cunningly  devised 
fables  like  the  dreams  of  the  Gnostics,  but  on  historical 
truth,  and  can  be  realised  only  in  those  who  heartily  accept 
this  apostolic  testimony.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess 
as  his  true  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  God  abideth 
in  him,  and  he  in  God.  This  "  confession  "  is  thus  another 
test  of  our  being  true  Christians,  just  as  love  of  each  other 
is.3  16.  And  we,  thus  confessing,  know  as  the  ground  of  our 
doing  so,  and  have  believed,  the  love  which  God  has  in  our 
case.  God  is  love ;  and  he  that  abideth  in  love  abideth  in 
God,  and  God  abideth  in  him.* 

If  to  dwell  in  love  mean  to  dwell  in  God,  it  throws  a 
clear  light  on  our  happy  future. 

17.  And  for  this  end  is  love  perfected  on  our  side,  that  we 

i  Rom  V.  10.  "^  John  i.  14 ;  1  John  L  1 ;  2  Pet.  1.  16. 

«  Verses  7,  8.  *  Verses  8,  13,  12. 


446  ST.  John's  epistles 

may  have  confidence  in  the  day  of  Judgment ;  because  as  He, 
Christ,  is  in  God,  and  God  in  Him,i  even  so  are  we,  in  this 
passing  world,  as  He  is  in  the  world  of  light.  18.  We  need 
have  no  fear,  therefore,  of  condemnation,  since  our  abiding  in 
love  is  an  abiding  in  God ;  indeed,  by  this  we  are,  even  now, 
one  with  our  future  Judge.  There  is  no  fear,  then,  in  such  love  : 
but  perfect  love  casts  out  fear,  because  fear  has  the  dread  of 
punishment :  and  so,  he  that  fears  is  not  made  perfect  in  love. 
19.  We  love,  because  He  first  loved  us,  so  that  all  true  love 
"  is  of  God."  20.  But  what  is  implied  in  this  love,  which  is 
Christian  perfection,  may  be  seen  in  the  fact,  that  if  any  man 
say,  "  I  love  God,"  and  hate  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar :  for  he 
who  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  has  seen,  cannot  love 
God  whom  he  has  not  seen.  21.  And  not  only  must  it  be  so 
from  the  nature  of  things :  we  have  an  express  commandment 
on  the  point;  for  this  commandment  have  we  from  Him, 
Christ,  that  he  who  loves  God  love  his  brother  also. 

V.  1.  It  must  indeed  be  so,  for  whosoever  believes  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ,  not,  like  our  opponents,  a  mere  man,  on 
whom  a  shadowy  Christ  descends,  at  times,  is  begotten  of 
God :  and  whoever  loves  Him,  God,  that  begat  him,  and  thus 
is  His  Father,  loves  him  also  that  is  begotten  of  Him  -  that  is, 
who  is  His  brother.2  So  inseparable  are  love  of  God  and  love 
of  true  Christians.  Hence,  also,  the  love  of  God  is  a  proof 
of  the  genuineness  of  our  love  of  His  children,  2.  for  hereby 
also  we  know  that  we  love  the  children  of  God,  when  we  love 
God  Himself,  and  do  His  commandments.  3.  For  this  is  the 
only  true  love  of  God,  that  we  keep  His  commands :  and  this 
is  no  unattainable  condition,  for  His  commandments  are  not 
grievous,  since  the  fulfilment  of  the  one — the  believing  on  the 
Son  of  God,  of  itself  leads  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  other.^ 

How  faith,  by  obeying  the  commandments,  overcomes 
the  world. 

i  Chap.  ii.  6 ;  iii.  5,  7,  16  ;  John  xiv.  20  ;  xvii.  21,  23.      ^  jolm  viii.  42. 
»  Chap.  ii.  5  ;  2  John  6  ;  John  xiv.  16,  21 ;  Matt.  xL  30 ;  xxiii.  4. 


FIRST  EPISTLE  GENERAL  OF  JOHN  447 

4.  For  whatsoever  is  begotten  of  God,  and  hence  has  true 
spiritual  life  in  it,  overcometh  the  world,  and  this  is  the 
source  of  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world — our  faith. 
5.  And  who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but  he  that  be- 
lieveth  that  Jesus  is,  in  the  apostolic  sense,  the  Son  of  God  ? 
This  belief  is  the  living  power  by  which  we  become  ideal  Chris- 
tians. 6.  This  faith,  in  contrast  to  that  taught  by  the  false 
teachers,  is  a  faith  in  Him  as  He  who  came  by  water  and 
by  blood,  the  water  of  baptism,  at  the  opening  of  His  work  as 
Messiah,  consecrating  Him  as  such,  and  the  blood.  His  death 
on  the  cross,  which  closed  it  on  earth, — so  that  He  is  not  a 
phantom-Christ,  as  the  false  teachers  say ; — even  a  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ,  who  came  not  with  the  water  only,  but  with  the 
water  and  with  the  blood.  7.  And  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself 
that  bears  witness  to  this  because  it  is  true,  and  the  Spirit  is 
the  truth.  For  Christ  comes  by  water  in  the  bestowal  of  the 
gifts  and  graces  which  accompany  the  public  confession  of 
Him,  by  sincere  penitents, ^  and  He  comes  by  blood,  for,  "the 
cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless,  is  it  not  a  communion  of  the 
blood  of  Christ  ?  "  ^  the  Divine  Spirit  being  poured  out  on  all 
who  partake  of  these  rites  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and  thus 
witnessing  for  our  Lord. 

The  seventh  verse  in  the  Authorised  Version  is  found 
in  none  of  the  Fathers,  from  the  third  to  the  fifth  century, 
though  they  discussed  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  so 
vigorously,  and  in  no  Greek  manuscript  earlier  than  the 
fifteenth  century.  It  is  first  met,  about  a.d.  400,  in  the 
Latin  Church,  from  which  it  was  ultimately  smuggled 
into  the  Greek  text,  through  the  Vulgate,  into  which  it 
had  been  inserted,  as  a  gloss,  by  some  unknown  transcriber, 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  now,  however,  rejected  by  all 
scholars. 

1  Acts  ii,  38. 

2  1  Cor.  X.  16;  xi.  23-26;  Acts  ix.  31 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  7,  13;  John  i.  32, 
33 ;  iu.  5. 


448  ST.   JOHN'S  EPISTLES 

8.  For  there  are,  tlms,  three  who  bear  witness  to  our  teach- 
ing, the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the  blood  :  and  the  three 
agree  in  one  testimony.  9.  If  we  receive  the  witness  of  men, 
as  we  do — for  the  Law  says  that  the  testimony  of  two  men 
is  true,i  the  threefold  witness  of  God,  as  just  named,  is  greater : 
for  the  witness  of  God  is  this,  that  He  has  not  only.  Himself, 
borne  witness  concerning  His  Son,  but  has  home  it  in  this 
threefold  way,  besides.  ^  Moreover,  10.  he  that  belie veth  truly 
on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  witness  within  himself:^  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  that  believeth  not  God  has,  once  for 
all,  made  Him  a  liar,  because  he  has  not  believed  in  the  wit- 
ness that  God  has  borne  concerning  His  Son.  11.  And  the 
witness  is  this,  besides  all  the  rest,  that  God  has  given  unto 
us  eternal  life,  as  promised,*  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son.  12. 
He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life ;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son 
of  God,  hath  not  the  life. 

Conclusion. 

13.  These  things,  in  this  whole  epistle,  have  T  written  unto 
you,  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have  eternal  life,  even  you 
who  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God.  14.  And  having 
this  certain  knowledge  that  we  already  have  eternal  life,  this 
is  the  confidence  which  we  have  as  regards  Him,  God,  that,  if 
we  ask  anything  that  is  according  to  His  will.  He  heareth  us ; 
15.  and  if  we  thus  know  that  He  hears  us,  as  to  whatsoever  we 
ask,  we  know  also  that  we  assuredly  have  the  petitions  granted 
which  we  have  asked  of  Him.  Yet  there  are  limits  to  our 
asking.  16.  If  any  man  see  his  brother  in  the  faith  sinning 
a  sin  not  unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  God  will  give  him  his 
prayer,  of  life  for  them  that  thus  sin  not  unto  death.  There 
is  a  sin  unto  death — the  rejecting  Christianity ;  ^  not  concern- 
ing this  do  I  say  that  he  should  make  request.  17.  All 
unrighteousness  is  sin  :  but  there  is  a  sin  not  unto  death. 

18.  Yet  we  know  that  whosoever  is  begotten  of  God  sin- 

1  John  viii.  17.         ^  jo^n  v.  32,  37 ;  viii.  18  ;  Matt.  iii.  17 ;  xvii.  5. 
»  Rom.  viii.  16.        •*  Chap.  ii.  25.  ^  Heb.  vi.  4-8 ;  x.  26-31. 


THE  SECOND  AND   THIRD  EPISTLES   OF  JOHN  449 

neth  not;  but  he  that  was  begotten  of  God  keepeth  himself 
from  sin,  and  the  Evil  One  toucheth  him  not.  19.  We  fur- 
ther know  that  we  are  of  God,  and  that  the  whole  world  lieth 
in  the  Evil  One.  20.  And  we  also  know  that  the  Son  of  God 
is  come,  and  hath  given  us  an  opening  of  the  eyes  of  our  under- 
standing,^ that  we  know  Him,  God,  that  is  true,  and  we  are  in 
Him  that  is  true,  even  in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.^  And  this  God 
whom  we  know^  in  His  Son,  is  the  true  God,  and  eternal  life. 

21.  My  little  children,  guard  yourselves  from  idols,  which 
are  no  gods. 

The  preservation  of  the  two  short  "  Epistles  of  John," 
through  the  first  centuries,  when  Christianity  was  still  to 
a  large  extent  obscure,  illiterate,  and  without  organisation 
beyond  that  of  simple  local  meetings,  or  "  churches," 
scattered  over  the  face  of  the  empire,  shows  that  they 
must  have  been  treasured  from  the  first,  in  many  a  lowly 
Christian  circle.  They  form  a  twin  pair;  the  creation, 
evidently,  of  the  same  mind  and  the  same  heart ;  identical 
thoughts  and  even  turns  of  expression  meeting  us  in 
both.^  The  few  glimpses  of  doctrine  they  contain  agree 
with  the  teaching  of  the  First  Epistle,  while  they  are  one 
with  both  that  Epistle  and  the  fourth  Gospel,  in  many 
words  and  phrases  peculiar  to  the  three.*  The  aim,  more- 
over, of  all  three  is  much  the  same;  to  strengthen  the 
reader  in  truth  and  love,  and  warn  him  against  the 
heretical  "higher  knowledge/'  or  Gnosis,  then,  and  so 
long,  in  vogue,  among  the  disputatious,  speculative,  Greek- 
Asiatic  populations  of  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  and  Egypt ;  the 

1  Eph.  i.  18.  2  j,jhn  xvii.  3. 

=*  2  John  1  and  3  John  1  ;  2  John  4  and  3  John  3 ;  2  John  12  and 
3  John  13,  14. 

*  Take,  for  example,  the  expressions,  "to  abide"  and  to  "walk"  in 
God,  Christ,  the  truth,  &c.,  "to  see  God,"  "to  be  of  God,"  "the  truth," 
"to  have,  or  to  hear,  from  the  beginning,"  "to  confess,"  "antichrist," 
"to  witness,"  "a  new  commandment,"  &c.,  &c. 

IV.  2  F 


450  ST.  John's  epistles 

background  of  all  these  compositions  being  the  whole- 
some doctrine  of  the  twelve  apostles.^  The  second  and 
third,  however,  unlike  the  first,  are  strictly  letters ; 
with  an  address  and  a  conclusion,  while  the  writer  is 
called  "  the  presbyter,"  or  "  elder  "  ;  a  name  not  assumed, 
to  the  exclusion  of  his  own,  by  any  other  New  Testament 
writer;  but  used  perhaps,  in  this  case,  as  simply  reminding 
his  loved  ones  of  his  declining  age.  Yet  as  the  familiar 
title  of  "  elder "  was  felt  enough  for  his  identification, 
John  must  have  been  known  through  the  churches  by 
this  kindly  by-name,  as  their  venerable  father,  whom  they 
tenderly  reverenced  as  the  last  survivor  of  the  com- 
panions of  our  Lord ;  loved  by  Him,  above  all  the  others. 
That  two  short  leaflets  such  as  these  two  private  letters, 
even  though  those  of  an  apostle,  should  not  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  allusions  to  their  sacred  writings,  by 
the  earliest  Christians,  is  not  surprising ;  their  private 
character,  no  less  than  their  shortness,  keeping  them 
long  as  only  private  treasures,  cherished  in  secret  through 
successive  generations.  They  were,  indeed,  only  gradually 
accepted  as  written  by  the  Apostle  John ;  even  Eusebius  ^ 
speaking  of  them,  at  one  time,  as  written  by  him,  and, 
at  another,  as  not  universally  honoured  as  canonical  ;3 
and  the  prevailing  opinion  even  in  the  time  of  Jerome 
seems  to  have  been,  that  they  were  written  by  a  presbyter 
John,  at  Ephesus ;  not  by  the  apostle.^  But  against  this 
idea,  the  internal  evidence,  which  is  the  strongest  of  all 
testimony,  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  that  the  author  of 
the  fourth  Gospel,  and  of  the  three  Epistles  of  John,  were 
the  same  person,  and  he  no  other  than  the  beloved  disciple. 

1  2  John  10 ;  3  John  5-8.  2  (nr  264-340. 

*  Euseb.  Dem.  Evan.  iii.  5 ;  "Church  Hist."  iii.  24,  17 ;  25,  2. 

*  Jerome  lived,  c.  331-420. 


THE   SECOND   EPISTLE  OF   JOHN  451 


The  Second  Epistle  op  John. 

The  epistle  is  addressed  to  "  the  elect  lady,"  but  it 
is  very  doubtful  whether  a  private  person  is  intended. 
It  has  been  usually  supposed  that  John  had  become 
acquainted  with  the  sons  of  the  mother  of  whom  he 
writes,  and  desires  to  congratulate  her  on  their  having 
joined  the  Faith.  But  the  changes  from  singular  to 
plural ;  the  language  of  both  introduction  and  conclusion ; 
that  of  the  eighth  and  tenth  verses,  which  imply  a  num- 
ber of  grown  persons ;  and,  especially,  the  peculiarity  in 
the  fifth  verse :  "  I  beseech  thee,  lady,  .  .  .  that  we  love 
one  another,"  appear  to  decide  that,  not  a  person  but  a 
church,  or  any  one  of  a  number  of  churches,  is  intended ; 
John  calling  it,  figuratively, — perhaps  as  the  bride  of 
Christ,  "  the  elect  lady,"  as  St.  Peter  speaks  of  a  church, 
as  "she  that  is  in  Babylon."^  This  being  so,  we  can 
understand  how  the  "lady"  is  loved  of  all  Christians, 
and  has  the  truth  abiding  in  her,  while  only  some  of  her 
children  walk  in  it.^  To  these,  if  members  of  a  church, 
the  entreaty  to  love  one  another  could  be  fittingly 
addressed ;  the  brethren  and  sisterhood  walking  un- 
becomingly being  addressed  as  an  individual,  and  thus 
personified.  The  "elect  sister"  who,  in  verse  thirteen, 
sends  greetings,  is  evidently  another  church,  whose  mem- 
bers send  salutations  to  those  of  the  church  to  which,  im- 
mediately, the  epistle  is  written.  Nor  is  it  strange  that 
John  should  call  himself  an  elder,  since  St.  Peter  does 
the  eame.^ 

Greeting. 

1  1  Pet.  V.  13.  =»  2  John  1,  2,  4.  »  1  Pet.  v.  la 


452  ST  John's  epistles 

1.  The  presbyter  to  the  elect  lady,  and  her  children,  the 
churcli  community,  whom  I  love  in  truth;  and  not  I  only, 
but  also  all  they  that  know  the  truth ;  2.  for  the  truth's  sake, 
which  abideth  in  us,  and  it  shall  be  with  us  for  ever ;  3.  Grace, 
mercy,  and  peace,  are  and  shall  be  with  us,  from  God  the 
Father,  and  from  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Father,  in 
truth  and  love. 

Warning,  and  rules  of  bearing,  towards  all,  but  mainly 
towards  those  who  have  left  the  congregation. 

4.  I  rejoice  greatly  that  I  have  found  some  of  thy  children 
walking  in  truth,  even  as  we  received  commandment  from  the 
Father.  5.  And  now  I  beseech  thee,  lady,  not  as  though  I 
wrote  to  thee  a  new  commandment,  but  that  which  we  had 
from  the  beginning;  that  we  love  one  another.  6.  And  this 
is  love,  to  God,  the  brethren  and  all  men,  that  we  should 
walk  after  His  commandments.^  And  this  is  the  command 
ment — the  truth,  even  as  ye  heard  it  from  us,  apostles,  from 
the  beginning,  telling  you  that  ye  should  walk  in  it.  7.  For 
many  deceivers  are  gone  forth  from  the  churches  into  the 
world — they  that  confess  not  that  Jesus  cometh  in  the 
flesh.  This  false  teaching  is  the  deceiver  and  the  anti- 
christ. 8.  Look  to  yourselves,  therefore,  that  ye  lose  not 
the  advances  in  spiritual  well-being  which  ye  have  already 
wrought  out  for  yourselves,  but  rather  see  that  ye  receive  a 
full  reward  by  your  fidelity.  9.  For  whosoever  goes  forward, 
beyond  our  teaching,  and  abideth  not  in  the  bounds  of  the 
apostolic  teaching  respecting  the  Christ,  hath  not  God  :  ^  but 
he  that  abideth  in  the  teaching,  the  same  has  both  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  10.  If  any  one  come  to  you  and  wish  to  play 
the  teacher  and  bring  not  this  teaching,  receive  him  not  into 
your  house,  and  give  him  no  greeting  of  welcome,^  11.  for 
he  that  gives  him  such  friendly  greeting  has  part  in  his  evil 
works. 

1  1  John  V.  2,  3.  2  1  John  ii.  23.  ^  2  Tim.  iii.  6. 


THE  THIRD   EPISTLE  OF  JOHN  453 

The  "false  teachers"  of  the  apostolic  age  were,  as  a 
rule,  itinerant  Jews  and  others,  passing  from  place  to 
place,  seeking  a  livelihood  by  petty  trade,  or  as  mechanics; 
the  humblest  Jew  or  Greek  being  a  frantic  theologian,  in 
many  cases.  It  was  the  passion  of  the  times  to  speculate 
on  all  high  subjects;  beggar  "philosophers"  abounding 
everywhere,  whose  restless  tongues  and  subtle  brains 
filled  the  air  with  crude  audacities  on  all  questions,  and, 
among  others,  on  morals,  God,  the  angels,  the  human 
and  divine  in  the  Christ,  and  much  else.  Many  main- 
tained that  immorality  was  only  an  innocent  exercise  of 
Christian  "  liberty,"  and  even  that  it  indirectly  honoured 
God,  since  the  more  sin,  the  greater  the  glory  of  divine 
grace.  Such  persons  were  specially  dangerous,  from  their 
unsettling  the  minds  of  converts,  and  stirring  up  the 
slumbering  love  of  novelty,  so  engrained  in  the  half-Greek, 
half-Oriental  mind  of  Asia  Minor.  As  to  keeping  aloof 
from  any  intercourse  with  such  misleading  talkers,  a 
tradition  has  been  preserved  that  John  acted  on  the 
admonition  he  gives;  for  it  is  said,  that  having  come 
upon  a  heretic,  Cerinthus,  in  a  public  bath,  he  at  once 
left  it,  lest  it  should  be  thrown  down  by  God  on  such  a 
corrupter  of  the  faith. 

Conclusion. 

12.  Having  many  things  to  write  to  you,  I  would  rather 
not  write  them  with  paper  and  ink ;  but  I  hope  to  come  to 
you,  and  to  speak,  face  to  face,  that  your  joy  may  be  made  full. 
13.  The  children  of  your  elect  sister — the  members  of  the 
church  from  which  I  write — salute  thee. 

The  object  of  the  Third  Epistle  of  John  is  to  urge  the 
liberal  exercise  of  hospitality  towards  wandering  preachers,^ 

1  3  John  5-8. 


454  ST.  John's  epistles 

They  were  to  be  cordially  received,  and  sent  off  on  their 
further  journeys  with  friendly  companionship  at  starting ; 
this  duty  resting  on  the  brethren,  and  especially  on  their 
head  men.  An  example  of  neglect  of  this  is  given,  in  the 
case  of  Diotrephes,^  who  is  held  up  to  scorn  for  it ;  while 
another,  Demetrius,  is  commended  for  his  hearty  fulfil- 
ment of  it.2  The  epistle  was  carried  to  him  to  whom  it 
was  addressed,  by  itinerant  preachers.^ 

What  "  Gains  "  is  intended  by  the  worthy  to  whom  the 
epistle  is  sent,  is  unknown.  It  may  have  been  one  of 
that  name,  at  Pergamos,  who  is  said  to  have  been  made 
"  bishop "  of  the  little  church  there,  by  John,  at  a  later 
time.  With  less  probability,  however,  it  has  been  sug- 
gested that  the  Gains  of  Corinth,  baptized  by  Paul,  and 
praised  by  him  for  his  wide  hospitality,  is  intended.* 

The  epistles  are  doubly  interesting  as  affording  a 
glimpse  of  the  conditions  under  \\  hich  Christianity  was 
originally  spread.  John  writes  to  the  leaders  of  the  little 
churches,  and  to  the  churches  as  a  whole,  on  this  humble 
subject  of  entertaining  passing  evangelists,  and  does  not 
scruple  to  rebuke  and  expose  by  name,  any  principal  men 
who  have  not  received  him  or  his  helpers ;  as  when  an 
ambitious  chief  man,  Diotrephes,  did  not  receive  "  us."  ^ 
In  his  vanity  and  heartless  pharisaic  pride  he  had  fancied 
that  he  could  do  without  the  apostle  or  his  humble  emis- 
saries, for  he  "  loved  to  have  the  pre-eminence  "  among  the 
brethren,  and  wished  no  rivals  beside  his  little  throne. 
The  churches,  as  a  whole,  are  represented  as  firmly  oppos- 
ing the  seductions  of  Gnosticism,  but  they  have  their  in- 
ternal troubles;   only  a  proportion  of  them  walking  in 

1  3  John  9,  10.  2  3  john  12.  »  3  John  5-7. 

*  Acts  XX.  4  ;  1  Cor.  i.  14.  ^  3  John  9. 


THE   THIRD  EPISTLE  OF  JOHN  455 

the  truth.  Above  the  little  brief  authority  of  the  primi- 
tive "bishop,"  or  president  of  a  congregation,  when 
exercised  amiss,  stands  that  of  the  apostle,  who  knows 
how  to  put  down  such  a  Triton  among  minnows  to  his 
proper  level.^  How  striking  a  contrast  to  the  eccle- 
siasticism  of  the  present  day,  or  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
from  which  the  inflated  officialism  of  all  the  churches 
has  come ;  human  nature,  even  in  orders,  remaining  very 
human. 

The  Third  Epistle  of  John. 

1.  The  elder,  or  presbyter,  to  Gaius  the  beloved,  whom  I 
love  in  the  truth. 

2.  Beloved,  I  pray  that  in  all  things  thou  mayest  prosper 
and  be  in  health,  even  as  thy  soul  prospers.  3.  For  I  rejoiced 
greatly  when  journeying  brethren  came  and  bare  witness  to 
thy  steadfast  abiding  in  the  truth,  as  shown  openly,  even  by 
the  way  thou  walkest  in  the  truth.  4.  For  greater  joy  have 
I  none  than  this,  to  hear  of  my  children  walking  in  the 
truth. 

Exhortation  to  show  hospitality  to  journeying  preachers. 

5.  Beloved,  thou  doest  a  faithful  work — one  truly  Chris- 
tian— in  whatever  thou  doest  towards  those  who,  besides  being 
brethren,  are  also  strangers ;  6.  who  have  borne  testimony 
before  the  church  assembly  here,  as  to  thy  truth,  so  to  thy 
love,  in  generous  hospitality :  whom  thou  wilt  do  well  to  set 
forward  on  their  further  journey  with  a  tenderness  worthy 
of  God,  whose  work  they  are  carrying  out ;  7.  because  they 
have  gone  forth  as  evangelists  and  missionaries  for  the  sake 
of  the  Name,  and  take  nothing  from  the  heathen,  letting  them- 
selves depend  for  their  support  on  Christians  only,  which 
makes  them  no  less  worthy  of  kind  reception  than  in  need 

1  3  John  10. 


456  ST.   JOHN'S   EPISTLES 

of  it.  8.  We  ought,  therefore,  to  entertain  such  heartily, 
that  we  may  be  fellow- workers  with  them  in  the  spread  of  the 
truth. 

An  instance,  however,  has  occurred,  of  unworthy 
behaviour  in  this  matter,  but  happily  it  has  its  contrast 
in  another  case. 

9.  I  wrote  somewhat — a  short  letter — to  the  church  to 
which  you — Gaius — belong :  but  it  has  either  been  lost  or 
Diotrephes  has  kept  it  back  from  the  brethren,  as  it  spoke 
of  his  blameworthiness  ;  for  this  person,  who  loves  to  have 
the  pre-eminence  among  them, — the  church  members  where 
lie  lives — will  not  entertain  us, — I  mean  those  whom  I  send 
out ;  and  they  have  let  me  know  this,  so  that  I  now  write 
another  private  letter  to  you,  Gaius.  10.  Therefore,  since 
he  acts  so,  if  I  come,  I  will  bring  to  remembrance  his  works 
which  he  doeth,  prating  against  us  with  wicked  words,  as  not 
of  our  school ;  and  not  content  with  this,  he  not  only  does  not 
himself  receive  the  brethren  I  send  as  itinerant  evangelists, 
but,  still  more,  he  forbids  those  to  do  so  who  would  receive 
them,  and  even  casts  them  out  of  the  church  for  being  willing 
to  entertain  them :  so  narrow-minded  and  hostile  is  he  to 
our  preaching.  11.  Beloved,  imitate  not  that  which  is  evil, 
but  that  which  is  good,  for  he  that  doeth  good  is  of  God,  but 
he  that  doeth  evil  has  not  seen  God.  12.  Imitate,  therefore, 
such  a  worthy  as  you  have  in  Demetrius,  for  he  has  the 
witness  of  all,  as  a  noble  sample  of  Christian  hospitality, 
and  their  witness  is  that  of  the  truth  itself;  yea,  we  also 
bear  witness ;  and  thou,  Gaius,  knowest  that  our  witness  is 
true. 

Conclusion.  Virtually  identical  with  that  of  the  Second 
Epistle. 

13.  I  had  many  things  to  write  to  thee,  but  I  am  unwilling 
to  write  them  to  thee  with  ink  and  pen.  14.  But  I  hope 
shortly  to  see  thee,  and  we  shall  speak  face  to  face.     Peace  be 


ST.  John's  epistles  457 

unto  thee.     The  friends  in  this  churcli  salute  thee.     Salute 
the  friends  in  your  church  by  name. 

Such  are  the  words  that  close  the  New  Testament,  for, 
as  we  have  seen, "  Revelation  "  was  written  before  the  three 
Epistles  of  John.  The  fourth  Gospel  had  been  given  to 
the  little  world  of  Christianity,  ten  or  fifteen  years  before 
the  three  Epistles,  which  are  marked,  in  every  line,  by 
signs  of  the  old  age  of  the  apostle.  If  he  be  supposed  to 
have  been  thirty  at  the  date  of  the  Crucifixion,  he  would 
be  uearing  seventy  at  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  and  if  the 
Gospel  and  the  Epistles  be  assigned  to  the  next  twenty- 
five  years,  he  would  be  about  ninety  when  these  three 
last  gifts  of  inspiration  were  first  read  by  those  to  whom 
they  had  been  sent. 

It  is  very  striking  to  find  that,  outside  the  New  Testa- 
ment, we  know  virtually  nothing  of  the  life  or  work  of 
any  of  the  apostles.  Traditions  spring  up,  indeed,  more 
and  more  plentifully  as  centuries  pass,  but  contemporary 
and  reliable  notices  of  the  founders  of  our  faith  are  not 
to  be  had.  Hence,  all  that  can  be  told  of  St.  John  is 
more  or  less  legendary;  yet  there  is  such  a  fascination 
about  the  last  survivor  of  the  immediate  companions  of 
our  Lord,  that  even  doubtful  hints  respecting  him  are 
precious. 

As  we  are  aware  from  a  statement  in  the  fourth  Gospel, 
it  was  an  idea  among  the  apostles  themselves,  from  some 
words  of  Christ  before  His  Ascension,  that  John  would 
never  die.  But  this  misapprehension  he  was  careful  to 
correct  in  after  years,  by  telling  us  that  Jesus  did  not  say 
that  he  would  not  die,  but  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I 
come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ? "  Yet  the  great  age  to 
which  he  lived,  and  the  belief  that  Christ's  coming  was 


458  ST.  John's  epistles 

close  at  hand,  kept  alive  the  original  fancy,  so  that  even 
when  he  was  long  dead,  it  was  widely  believed  that  he 
was  only  asleep,  not  inanimate,  in  the  .dust;  Augustine 
relating  how  persons  had  told  him  they  had  seen  the  earth 
moving  with  his  breath,  over  his  grave.^  Indeed,  it  was  a 
fixed  belief  even  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  he  was  still  alive.^ 
But,  dismissing  this  dream,  some  personal  traditions 
are  very  interesting.  One  of  the  sweetest  is  that  of  his 
meeting  with  one  who  had  been  a  convert,  but  had  gone 
astray,  and  had  even  sunk  to  be  the  captain  of  a  band  of 
robbers,  in  the  mountains  near  Ephesus.  I  give  it  in  the 
words  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  as  reported  by  Eusebius.^ 
Making  his  centre,  we  are  told,  at  Ephesus,  John  was  in 
the  habit  of  going  out  from  it,  to  the  parts  round,  to 
appoint  "  bishops "  over  congregations,  or  to  found  new 
churches,  or  ordain  such  persons  as  he  approved,  to  the 
ministry.  On  one  occasion,  after  having  thus  set  apart 
some  one  to  the  charge  of  a  church,  he  lovingly  commended 
to  his  care  a  fine  youth  standing  near ;  the  result  being 
that  the  "presbyter,"  taking  the  lad  to  his  own  home,  led 
him  gradually  to  such  a  frame  as  was  followed  by  his 
being  baptized.  But,  after  a  time,  unfortunately,  the 
young  man,  thinking  himself  sure  of  salvation  by  having 
this  "  seal  of  the  Lord,"  mixed  with  doubtful  companions, 
and  erelong  went  from  bad  to  worse  till  he  finally,  after 
committing  some  great  crime,  became  head  of  a  band  of 
robbers.  Years  after,  the  church  having  sent  for  the 
apostle  again,  and  the  matters  which  had  brought  him 
being  settled,  the  old  man  asked  about  the  youth.  "  Alas," 
said  the  presbyter,  "he  is  dead."     "How  did  he  die?" 

^  Tract.  124,  in  Jocmn.  -  Niceph.  Hist.  Ecdes.  ii.  42. 

3  Hist.  Ecdes.  iii.  23. 


ST.  John's  epistles  459 

asked  St.  John.  "  He  is  dead  to  God,"  was  the  answer; 
"he  has  turned  a  robber."  On  this,  the  apostle  rent  his 
garment,  and  told  them  to  get  him  a  horse  and  a  guide  to 
go  to  the  robber's  haunts.  Eiding  up  into  the  mountains, 
he  was  erelong  taken  prisoner  by  some  of  the  young 
man's  band,  but,  instead  of  resisting,  only  asked  them  to 
lead  him  to  their  captain,  for  he  had  come  to  see  him. 
Noticing  the  apostle  approach,  the  guilty  one,  recognising 
him,  turned  to  flee,  but  John  cried  out  to  him,  on  no 
account  to  do  so ;  that  he  would  not  surely  run  from  his 
father;  his  old,  defenceless  father;  and  called  him,  ten- 
derly, his  son.  Then,  when  the  poor  creature,  hearing 
such  sweet  words,  stopped,  and  came  up  with  shame  to  his 
aged  friend — John  continued — "  Have  compassion  on  me, 
my  son ;  fear  not.  Thou  mayest  still  live.  I  will  plead 
with  Christ  for  thee,  and  if  needs  be,  I  will  gladly  die  for 
thee.  Believe  that  Christ  has  sent  me."  Hearing  such 
things,  the  past  came  back  to  the  poor  backslider,  and 
laying  down  his  weapons,  he  threw  his  arms  round  the 
old  man ;  weeping,  and  broken  down  in  deep  penitence. 
It  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  had  no  hope  of  being  forgiven, 
but  the  apostle  would  not  let  him  despair,  and  kneeling 
down  with  him,  there  and  then,  commended  him  to  Christ 
as  a  wanderer  who  had  come  back  to  the  fold ;  and  then, 
feeling  sure  that  the  lost  sheep  was  welcomed  once  more 
to  the  fold,  he  kissed  his  right  hand,  and  led  him  back  to 
the  church. 

Another  story  is  that  of  his  coming  out  of  the  bath  in 
which  he  found  the  heretic  Cerinthus,  as  already  told. 

When  the  apostle  left  Judasa  is  entirely  unknown, 
though  we  may  feel  confident  that  he  remained  there  till 
the  death  of  Mary,  the  mother  of  our  Lord,  set  him  free. 


460  ST.   JOHN'S   EPISTLES 

That  he  was  not  in  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  Paul's  last 
visit  appears  certain,  from  his  not  being  mentioned,  nor 
can  we  suppose  that  he  settled  in  Ephesus  before  the 
death  of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  since  he  would 
naturally  refrain  from  intruding  on  the  sphere  of  a  fellow- 
apostle.  But,  apart  from  the  inferences  in  the  passage 
respecting  the  conversion  of  the  robber,  we  have  hardly 
anything  to  help  us  to  fill  in  an  outline  of  his  work,  after 
he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  great  city  of  Diana.  We 
may  dismiss  as  the  fancy  of  a  later  age,  fond  of  reviving 
Judaism  in  the  churches,  the  tradition  of  his  wearing  in 
his  old  age,  a  plate  of  gold  on  his  brow,  engraved  with  the 
name  of  Jehovah,  like  that  worn  on  his  turban  by  the 
Jewish  high-priest.^  Far  more  probable,  because  natural 
in  a  loving  nature,  is  a  later  tradition,  that  he  took  plea- 
sure in  a  pet  bird — a  partridge,  it  is  said — defending 
himself  by  reminding  a  friend  that  the  mind,  like  a  bow, 
needed  to  be,  from  time  to  time,  unbent.  But  the  most 
beautiful  story  is  that  which  refers  to  his  extreme  age. 
When  past  all  power  to  teach  or  travel,  he  used,  we  are 
told,  to  be  carried  about  in  a  litter,  and  while  thus  being 
borne  through  the  streets,  would  ever  and  anon,  on  seeing 
knots  of  Christians  watching  him,  murmur  to  them, "  Little 
children,  love  one  another  ! "  When  he  died  is  not  known, 
but  it  must  have  been  very  nearly,  if  not  quite  at,  the 
close  of  the  first  century,  and  then,  at  last,  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved  went  to  be  for  ever  with  his  Lord. 
It  is  striking  to  find  how  age  tempered  the  whole  nature 
of  the  once  fiery  "  son  of  thunder,"  but  he  still  shows  to 
the  very  last  his  unbending  sternness  against  whatever 
opposes  the  truth,  in  his  requiring  the  brethren  utterly 

1  Euseb.  Hist.  Ecdes.  iii.  31  :  v.  24. 


ST.   JOHN'S  EPISTLES  461 

to  refuse  hospitality  to  a  false  teacher.  Yet  the  Sun  of 
Eternal  love,  in  Christ,  shining,  in  his  case,  into  a  soul 
exceptionally  sympathetic  and  receptive,  gradually  trans- 
formed his  whole  being,  more  and  more,  into  a  reflection 
of  the  perfect  image  of  Him  whom  he  supremely  loved. 
"  The  Son  of  Man  "  is  to  John,  at  all  times,  the  eternal  Son 
of  God,  shining  amidst  the  glory  which  He  had  with  the 
Father  before  the  world  was.  Though  man,  He  is  the  Un- 
created Word ;  and  now  wears,  for  the  abiding  consolation 
of  His  still  mortal  brethren,  the  form  He  bore  on  earth, 
and  retains  all  His  human  sympathies  and  memories, 
amidst  the  glory  of  the  Father.  Thither,  on  the  strong 
wings  of  immortal  love,  the  thoughts  of  John  followed 
Him,  piercing  further  into  the  mysteries  of  His  divine 
yet  human  nature,  than  any  other  of  the  apostles ;  so  that 
the  churches  took  for  his  emblem  the  eagle,  which  is  said 
to  look  without  blenching  at  the  unclouded  sun. 

The  last  of  the  apostles  to  leave  us,  he  has  now  for 
eighteen  hundred  years  been  translated  to  the  all-revealing 
noon  of  heaven,  and  in  that  golden  air  must  have  become, 
age  after  age,  more  like  his  Divine  Master,  in  whom  dwelt 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  There  are  some,  we 
are  told,  privileged  to  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He 
goeth,  and  we  may  be  sure  that  John  is  one  of  them,  for 
his  Master  loved  him  here,  and  eternity  is  only  the 
widening  of  the  stream  which  in  this  life  we  call  Time, 
and  a  change  of  skies  makes  no  change  or  abatement 
of  holy  affections.  The  beloved  disciple  of  earth  must, 
therefore,  be  the  beloved  disciple  still,  in  the  world  of 
light,  for  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever,  and  the  love  that  lay  on  His  bosom  here,  must 
grow  with  the  ages,  there. 


INDEX 


Abaddon,  290 
Abyss,  the,  288,  289 
Adoration  in  heaven,  322,  371 
Advent,  expectation  of,  144,  163 
Agrippa  II.,  126 

high-priests  appointed  by,  127 

opposition  to,  128 

returns  from  Alexandria,  130 

oration  at  Jerusalem,  130 

Ananias,  son  of  Nebedai,  138 
Angel  on  sea  and  land,  298,  321 
Angels,  as  winds,  &c.,  86 

of  churches,  199 

hosts  of,  praise  the  Lamb,  259 

Apocalypse,  hyperboles  of,  298 
return    of    Christ    its    great 

theme,  170 
Apocalyptic  books,  45, 168,246,  247, 

401-403 
Apollos,  did  he  write  the  Hebrews  ? 

83 
Armageddon,  battle  of,  854 
Ark,  the  heavenly,  322 
Asia  Minor,  earthquakes  in,  153, 

154 
religious  dangers  to  churches 

in,  86-42 
Asiarch,  office  of,  163 

Babylon,  the,  alluded  to   by  St. 

Peter,  13 
Baise,  152 

Beast,  the,  Antichrist,  329-33" 
the  second  Antichrist,  33^ 


Beast,  the  number  of  the,  336 

the,  or  scarlet  woman,  359 

the,  and  his  army  overcome, 

377 
Black  horse,  rider  on  the,  268 

Celibacy,  341 

Cestius  at  Jerusalem,  134 

defeated,  135 

Cherubim,  the,  249,  253 

Christ,  connections  of,  before  Domi- 
tian,  56 

Christ's  kingdom  to  be  on  earth, 
383 

Christianity,  long  a  story  of  suffer- 
ing, 51 

Christians,  bad  name  of,  unjustly, 
158 

imperial  persecution  of,  160- 

165,  203 

Churches,  dangers  surrounding,  45 

moral  state  of,  42 

imminent   declension    of,    in 

morality,  42 

moral  state  of,  203  f. 

religious    state    of,    in  Asia 


Minor,  16,  36-42 
Colosse,  155 
"Corban,"  meaning  of,  128 

Daniel,  beasts  in,  325 
Devils,  exorcism  of,  353 
Dragon,     the     great,     325,     326, 
329 


463 


464 


INDEX 


Eagle,  flying  in  mid-heaven,  284 

Earth,  reaped,  345 

Earthquakes  and  other  convulsions, 
320 

Elders,  the  heavenly,  251 

like  Jewish  "heavenly  coun- 
cil," 279 

Eleazar  prohibits  the  oblation  for 
the  emperor,  130 

Emperors,  worship  of,  161 

Empire,  troubles  in,  167 

Enoch,  Book  of,  152 

Ephesus,  189  ff. 

Faithful  and  true,  374 

army  of  the,  376 

False  Prophet,  the,  338 
Famines,  150 

wars,  &c.,  of  the  Apocalyptic 

period,  265 
Fifth  seal,  opening  of  the,  266 
Florus,    Procurator,    6Q,    67,    12G, 

130 

Galea,  64 

Galilee,  its  importance  in  the  war, 

139 
Gematria,  335 
Gnostic  ideas,  use  of,  40 
Gnosticism,  58 
God,  mark  of  a,  273 
Gog  and  Magog,  380 

overthrow  of,  382 

Great  white  throne,  385 

Hannas,  the  high-priest,  murdered, 
131,  132 

son  of  Hannas,  137,  138 

Heaven,  adoration  in,  257,  277 

felicities  of,  275  f. 

silence  in,  279 

war  in,  327 

war  in,   Assyrian  version   of, 

324 


Heavens  and  earth  pass  away,  270, 

386 
Hebrews,  to  whom  written,  70-73 
the  epithet,  71 

sufferings  of    the   church    ad- 
dressed in  the  Epistle,  72 

object  of  the  Epistle,  73 

no     allusion     to     Gentile    or 


Jewish  Christians  in,  73 

written  by  a  follower  of  Paul's 

teaching,  74 

danger  threatening  the  church 

addressed,  75,  76 

where  written,  76 

author  of,  77-84 

was  Paul  author  of?  78-82 

author  of,  not  closely  ac- 
quainted with  Temple  arrange- 
ments, 82,  104 

translation  of  Epistle,  85-123 


Heresies,  growth  of,  53 
Hierapolis,  156 

iDUMiEANS,  massacre  in  Jerusalem 

by,  308 
Incense,  a  symbol  of  prayer,  258, 

283 
on  altar  of  heaven,  282 

Jacob  worshipping  on  his  bed,  115 
Jerusalem,   church  at,  relations   to 

Gentile  Christians,  3 

conference  with  Paul  at,  3 

fall  off,  predicted  by  a  peasant, 

through  its  streets,  69 
position  of  Christians  in,   on 

the  eve  of  the  war,  124 
tumults    and    excitement   in, 

125 

furious  faction  wars  in,  132 

parties  in,  137 

position  of  Christians  in,  whfen 


the  war  was  breaking  out,  143 
—  repents,  309 


INDEX 


465 


Jerusalem,  condition  of  church  in,  as 
war  approaches,  313-319 

judgment  on  besiegers  of,  345 

the  fall  of,  407-434 

the  New,  388-397 

Jews,  massacres  of,  everywhere, 
134,  135 

Josephus,  appointed  general  in 
Galilee,  137 

unfitness  for  the  post,  139-142 

Judaea  in   the  last  years  of  Nero, 

.    65-70 

increase  of  discontent  in,  65 

hostility  to  census  in,  6Q 

calm  in,  361 

Jude,  who  was  he  ?  53 

Epistle  of,  54-61 

Laodicea,  155,  223 

• epistle  to  church  in,  238 

Living  creatures,  the,  248 
Locusts  issue  from  abyss,  290 

Marriage,  SS.  John  and  Paul  on, 
341 

Martyrs,  cry  of  souls  of,  258,  266 
Masada  seized  by  Menahem,  131 
Melchisedek,  hints  respecting,  from 

Tel-el-Amarna,  93 
Menahem,  the  Zealot,  takes  Masada 

and  enters  Jerusalem,  131 
Millennium,  378 
Monsters,  origin  of,  fanciful,  323 
Moses  and  the  Lamb,  song  of,  348 
Multitude,  the  great,  271-276 

Naples,  Gulf  of,  in  New  Testa- 
ment times,  152 

Nero,  337,  352,  359 

demands    special    taxes    from 

Jews,  128 

popular  rage  at,  129 

last  months  of,  62-65 

death  of,  65 

popularity  of,among  rabble,  146 

IV. 


Nero's  proposal  to  flee  to  Egypt  or 

Parthia,  147 
his  return  expected,  when  he 

was  really  dead,  147 
the  false,  295,  296 


Nicolaitans,  the,  202 

Numbers,  Hebrew  science  of,  335 

Omens  seen  everywhere,  149,  150. 

of  coming  evil  in  Judaea,  68-70 

Otho,  64 

Pale  horse,  rider  on  the,  264 
Parthian    invasion,    imagery    from 

the,  293 
king,     homage    to    Nero,    at 

Puteoli,  63 
Passover,  numbers  attending,  66 
Patmos,  172,  185 

John  in,  316,  318 

Pella,  flight  of  Christians  to,  316, 

329 
Pergamos,  211 

epistle  to  church  at,  214-217 

Persecution,     imperial,     when      it 

began,  17 
Pestilences,  151 
Peter   and   Paul,    relations    of,    as 

apostles,  1-6 

later  history  of,  7-10 

at  Rome,  8,  10-12 

First  Epistle   of,    when  writ- 
ten, 1 

genuineness  of,  12-16 

text  of,  18 

Second  Epistle,  30 

genuineness  of,  32-35 

date  of,  35 

text  of,  43 

Philadelphia,  229 

epistle  to  church  in,  230-233 

Philip  the  Evangelist,  7 

the  Apostle,  156 

Polycarp,  211 

2g 


466 


INDEX 


Rabbis,  Jewish  glory  in  their,  183 
Red  horse,  rider  on  the,  263 
Resurrection,  the  first,  379 
"  Revelation,"  circumstances  under 
which,  was  written,  143 

author  of,  157,  173 

translation  of,  179  ff. 

plan  of,  240 

digest  of  its  contents,  240-244 

style  of,  245 

Roll,  the  seven-sealed,  254 

the  Lamb  opens  the,  255 

Rome,  overthrow  of,  expected,  162 

the  patron  of  idolatry,  332 

fall  of,  prophesied,  343 

grandeur  of,  362 

fall  of,  364-369 

Christians  in,  364 

Saorifioes,  efficacy  of,  limited  to 

unintentional  offences,  105 
Sardis,  224 

epistle  to  church  in,  228 

Satan  in  heaven,  325 
■  Sealed  of  God,  the,  273 
Seven  bowls  of   the  seven  angels, 

349-355 
Seven   churches,    epistles    to    the, 

101 

other  than  the,  201 

Seven  Spirits  of  God,  257 

Seven,  the  number,  180 

Seventh  trumpet,  321 

Simon  Magus,  8 

Sin  and  death,  Milton's  picture  of, 

287 
Smyrna,  205 

epistle  to  church  in,  209 

Son  of  man,  345. 


Temple,  sacredness  of,  to  Jews,  302 

measured  by  an  angel,  303 

Thyatira,  218 

epistle  to  church  in,  220-223 

"  Time  shall  be  no  longer,"  300     . 

Tiamat,  324 

Tradition,  ecclesiastical,  unreliable 

in  many  cases,  8 
Tree  of  life,  205 
Troubles  in  empire,  147 
Trumpet,  the  second,  283 

the  third,  283 

the  fourth,  283 

the  fifth,  284 

the  sixth,  291 

Trumpets,  the  seven,  281 

Vespasian  sent  to  Palestine,  63 
crushes  the  revolt  in  Galilee, 

142 
Vision,  first,  of  John,  246 

phenomena  of,  261 

Volcanic  eruptions  and  earthquakes, 

151,  153 

White  horse,  rider  of  the,  262 
Winds  under  control  of  an  angel, 

272 
Witnesses,  the  two,  304 

powers  of,  306 

death  of,  807 

raised,  309 

Woman  in  scarlet,  357 

standing  on  the  moon,  323 

persecuted    by    the    dragon, 

328 

Zealots,  growth  of,  127 
Zion,  the  Lamb  on,  340 


INDEX   OF   BIBLE   TEXTS. 


Genesis. 

iv. 

V.  24 
vi.  2 
xiv.  22 
xviii. 
xviii.  12 
xix.  1  f. 
xxi.  12 
xxii.  17 
xxvii.  27  ff. 
xxviii.  15 
XXXV.  4 
xl.  7 
xliii.  12 
xliii.  30 
xlvii.  31 
xlviii.  2 
xlix.  9 
1.25 

Exodus. 
vii.  17-21 
ix,  9 
ix.  22  ff. 
ix.  24  ff. 
xi.  12 


xii.  15 
xvi.  33 
xvii.  7 
xix.  4 
xix.  6 
xix.  12,  13 
ziz.  16  . 


PAOB 

267 
114 

58 
300 
298 

24 

47 
115 

96 
115 
121 
116 
183 
105 
301 
115 
115 
256 
116 


.  350 

.  349 

.  355 

.  283 

.  Ill 

.  105 

.  104 

.  90 

.  128 
22,  252 

.  119 

.  253 


xix.  18     . 
xix.  18     . 
XX.  11        . 
xxiv.  8 
XXV.  1,  16 
XXV.  10  ff. 
XXV.  18,  31-39 
XXV.  40    . 
xxvi.  35   . 
xxviii.  8  . 
xxix.  4 
XXX.  1-10 
xxxii.  32,  33     , 
xxxvii.  7  . 
xxxvii.  10,  16  , 
xxxix.  5  . 


PAGE 

349 
323 

300 
18 
104 
104 
104 
102 
104 
187 
111 
104 
229 
250 
104 
187 


Leviticus 
viii,  6 
XV.  18 


xvi.  14 
xvi.  18 
xvi.  27 
xix.  2 
xxvi.  11,  12 


111 
341 
105 
104 
121 
21 
27,  390 


Numbers. 

xvi. ...  60 

xvii.  7,  8 .         .  349 

xvii.  10    .        .  104 

xvii.  31,  32       .  329 

XX.  13,  24        .  90 
xxiv.  4     .        .246 

xxxi.  16  .        .  60 
467 


Deuteronomy. 

iv.  13       . 

PAGE 

323 

xxiii,  14  . 

381 

xxxi.  6,  8 

.     121 

xxxii.  35,  36 

.     112 

xxxii.  40  . 

30C 

xxxii.  49  . 

.       85 

xxxii,  57  . 

.       90 

1  Samuel. 
xix.  24     .        .     246 

2  Samuel. 

vii.  14      .       85,  391 
xxii.  11    .        .    254 


1  Kings. 


i.  47 
iii.  26 
vii.  49 
xviii.  1 
xxii.  19 
xxii.  21,  22 


.  115 
.  301 
.  104 
.  306 
249,  280 
.  327 


2  Kings. 
i.  10,  f  .   .  306 
ii.  11    .   .  309 

1  Chronicles. 
xxi.  16  .    .  299 
xxiv.    .    .251 

2  Chronicles. 
iii.  10   .   .250 
iv.  7    .    .  104 
XXXV.  25  .    .  354 


468 


INDEX  OF  BIBLE  TEXTS 


EzEA. 

PAGE 

vii.  1,  14  .         .     281 

Nehemiah. 
i.  3  .        .        .274 
viii.  10-12        .     309 
xi.  4,  15,  20      .     274 


ESTHEE. 

i.  14 

ix.  19,  21 


Job. 


i.  6ff. 
i.  7  . 
i.,  ii. 

XV.  8 


281 
309 


280 
325 
327 

281 


Psalms. 
ii.  1  .        .     322 

ii.  2-4      .        .     32G 
ii.  7  .         85,  94 

ii.  8,  9      .     222,  223 
ii.  9       221,  326,  376 


viii.  5-7 
xi.  4 

xvii.  15  . 
xviii.  7-13 
xxii.  22    . 
xxiii.  2     . 
xxvii.  1    . 
xxviii.  16 
xxix.  3-9 
XXX.  7 
xxxiv.  8 
xl.  7,  8 
xlv.  6,  7 
1.  3  . 

1.  8-14,  16,  17 
Ivi.  4,  11,  12 
Ivi.  8 


.       87 

.     259 

.     397 

253,  254 

.       88 

.     279 

.     121 

.      21 

253,  299 

.     280 

.       21 

.     109 

.       86 

.     253 

109 

121 

386 


Ixix.  28    . 
Ixxii.  10  . 
Ixxiv.  13  . 
Ixxv.  8 
Ixxvi.  7,  8 
Ixxviii.  25 
Ixxix.  1-3 
Ixxxi. 
xcv.  7  ff. 
xcvi,  1 
xcvii.  2-4 
xcix.  17    . 
cii.  6 
cii  25-27 
civ.  4 
ex.  1 

ex.  4        99, 
exviii.  6 
cxviii.  22 
exxxv.  14 
exxxvii.  8,  9 
cxli.  2 
cxliv,  9    . 


PAGE 

.  229 

.  395 

.  329 

314,  376 

.  270 

.  216 

.  307 

.  90 
90,  92 

.  259 

.  253 

.  322 

.  364 

.  86 

.  85 

.  86 

100,  101 

.  121 

.  21 

.  112 

.  365 

.  258 

.  259 


Proverbs. 
iii.  11,  12    .  118 
iii.  34   .    .29 
X.  12    .    .   27 

Ecclesiastes. 
V.  4    .   .  301 


Isaiah. 
i.  9,  10  . 

ii.  2 

ii.  6,  7,  9,  22 

ii.  17 

ii.  19 

iv.  5 

vi.  1 

vi.  2 

vi.  2-4 


18^ 


308 
371 
14 
344 
270 
278 
187 
253 
249 


vi.  4 

viii.  14     . 
viii.  17,  18 
ix.  i. 
xi.  4 
xi.  10 
xiii.  6,  10 
xiii.  9,  10 
xiii.  20-22 
xiv.  12 
XX.  1 
xxii.  22 
xxiv.  23 
XXV.  8 
xxxiv.  4 
XXXV.  8 
XXXV.  10 
xl.  6-8 
xliii.  21 
xliv.  6 
xlvii.  1 
xlvii.  7 
xlix.  10 
xlix.  36 
Ii.  22 
Iii.  1 
liii.  5 
liii.  7 
liv.  11,  12 
Iv.  1 

lix.  9,  10 
lix.  19 
Ix.  3,  11, 
Ixi.  6 
Ixii.  2 
Ixii.  5 
Ixii.  8 
Ixiii.  1  ff 
Ixiii.  3 
Ixiii.  4 
Ixv.  6 
Ixv.  17 
Ixv.  19 


PAGE 

.  349 

.  22 

.  88 

.  394 

374,  376 

.  256 

.  270 

.  284 

.  364 

.  223 

.  33 

.  232 

252,  280 

279,  390 

.  270 

.  395 

.  390 

.  21 

.  22 

.  391 

.  14 

.  365 

.  278 

.  272 

.  376 

.  395 

.  23 

.  25 

.  394 

.  391 

.  284 

.  329 
395 

.  380 

.  217 

.  372 

.  300 

.  375 

.  346 

270,  378 

.  386 

217,  388 

.  490 


19,21 


INDEX   OF   BIBLE   TEXTS 


469 


Lamentations. 

PAGE 

i.  15         .        .     346 

Jerkmiah. 

i.      .        .  .     185 

ii.  13        .  .     357 

iii.  14       .  356,  372 

iv.  24,  28 .  .     270 

xi.  6         .  .     364 

xiii.  32     .  .     372 

xiv.  12     .  .     221 

XV.  16      .  .     301 

xxi.  6,  7  .  .     221 

xxiii.  14  .  .     308 

xxiii.  18  .  .280 

XXV.  15    .  .344 

xxxi.  31-34,  103, 110 

1.  15,  22   .  365 

li.  7          .  .     358 

li.  63,  64  .  .     368 


EZEKIEL. 


1. 

i.-iii. 

X.  4. 

X.  6. 

i.  28 

ii.  2. 

iii.  1-3 

ix.    . 

xi.  2 

xvi.  46,  49 

xxviii.  13 

xxix.  1 

xxxii.  2    . 

xxxiii.  27 

xxxvii.  27 

xxxix.  4,  17-20 


168,  249 
.     185 


248 
253 
250 
246 
301 
281 
392 
308 
358 
329 
329 
221 
278 
377 


xl.  3 

xlii.  20  . 
xliii.  7  . 
xlvii.  1  ff. 
xlviii.  16 . 
xlviii.  31-34 


302,  392 
.  302 
.  390 
.  396 
.  392 
.  392 


V.  18,  19 
vii.  2 
vii.  3 
vii.  6,  7 
vii.  9 
vii.  9,  10 


Daniel. 

PAGE 

.  363 

.  272 

306,  330 

.  325 

385,  188 

251,  252 


vii.  9,  13,  14, 
18,  22,  27  .  379 


vii.  10,  26 
vii.  24 
viii.  10,  14 
viii.  18 
viii.  26 
ix.  27 
X.  6. 
X.  13,  21 
X.  15,  16 
xi.  45 
xii.  1 
xii.  4,  9 


.  280 

128,  302 

128,  326 

.  246 

.  299 

.  302 

.  189 

.  327 

.  246 

.  346 

229,  327 

.  299 


xii.  7  128,  300,  302 

HOSEA. 

ii.  19,  20  .  .  372 

V.  10    .  .  329 

X.  8 .    .  .270 

xi.  10   .  .  299 

Joel. 

i.  6  .   .  .290 

ii.  4,  5   .  .  290 

ii.  2,  30,  31  270,  284 

iii.  12,  13  .  346,  371 

iii.  14,  15  .  270 

iii.  16   .  299,  347 

iii.  17   .  347,  395 


Amos. 
i.  2  . 

ii.  8. 
iii.  7 
vii.  14  ff. 
viii.  9 


299 
299 
300 
185 

284 


MlCAH. 

iv.  Iff.. 

Nakum. 
i.  5,  6 
iii.  4 


PAGE 

371 


270 
357 


Habakkuk. 
ii.  3,  4      .        .     11? 
iii.  4  .341 

Zephaniah. 
i.  14,  15   .        .    270 
ii.  14        .         .     364 

Haggai. 
ii.  6.        .        .     120 


Zechariah. 


ii.  1,  5 
iii.  9 
iv.  3,  11, 
iv.  10 
vi.    . 
viii.  8 
xii.  11 
xiv.  1-4 
xiv.  6,  7 
xiv.  8 
xiv.  9 


14 


392 
182 
305 
182 
262 
391 
354 
346 
395 
396 
348 


Malachi. 
iii.  2,  16  .     270,  386 


iv.  5 


1  Esdras. 
vii.  8 

2  Esdras. 
iv.  41 

iv.  35 
vii.  28  ff. 
vii.  31 


305 


275 


266 
266 
379 
389 


470 


INDEX  OF  BIBLE  TEXTS 


PAGE 

xi.  1 

.  330 

xi.  37   . 

.  299 

xii.  31   . 

.  299 

xiii.  35  . 

.  346 

TOBIT. 

xii.  12   . 

307,  258 

xii.  15 

.  281 

xiii.  16,  17 

.  394 

Wisdom. 
xviii.  24  .        .187 

Baeuch. 
iv.  35       .        .    364 
xi.  1         .        .    346 

1  Maccabees. 
X.  89        .        .    187 
xi.  13       .        .    375 
xiii.  51     .        .    276 


Matthew 
iii.  17 


V.  8. 
V.  48 
vii.  15 
viii.  14 
X.  3 
X.  21 
X.  S2 
X.  28 
X.  36 
xi.  23 
xi.  30 
xiii.  9  ff 
xiii.  55 
xiii.  14,  15 
xvi.  3 
xvi.  14 
xvi.  18 
xvii.  5 
xvii.  10 


.  448 
397,  441 

.  436 

.  443 

.  341 

.  156 

.  315 

.  314 

.  211 

.  315 

.  288 

.  446 

.  314 

.  53 

.  372 

.  311 

.  305 

.  288 

.  448 

.  305 


PAGE 

xviii.  42,  50  .  289 
xix.  27  .  .  389 
xix.  28  .  .  222, 
239,  252,  379 
XX.  2  .  .  263 
xxi.  42  .  .21 
xxii.  1  .  .372 
xxii.  2  .  .373 
xxiii.  4  .  .  446 
xxiii.  5  .  .  i40 
xxiv.  .  144,  256, 
262,  263,  314 
xxiv.  6-8  .     1-58 

xxiv.  7,  21  .  268 
xxiv.  9  .  .  265 
xxiv.  11,  12  52,  443 
xxiv.  12  .  .  315 
xxiv.  15,  317  .  409 
xxiv.  21  232,  265, 292 
xxiv.  22  .  .  265 
xxiv.  23,  24  .  439 
xxiv.  28-29,  34  311, 
314,  320,  333, 443 
xxiv.  29,  30  .  268, 
271,  284 
xxiv.  29-34  .  443 
xxiv.  31  .  .  272 
xxiv.  42  ff.  .  228 
xxiv.  43  .  .  163 
XXV.  .         .    144 

XXV.  1  .  .372 
XXV.  31,  32  .  385 
xxvii.  39  .  .25 
xxviii.  18      184,  257 

Mark. 

vi.  3        .  .      53 

xii.  43      .  .     364 

xiii.  1       .  .418 

xiii.  7-9   .  .     150 

xiii.  24,  25  271,  284 

xiii.  9-13  .     265 

xiii.  28     .  .    272 


PAGE 

xiii.  22  . 

• 

333 

xiii.  30  . 

, 

320 

XV.  17   . 

, 

375 

xviii.  13  . 

• 

314 

Luke. 

ii.  36 

275 

iv.  25 

306 

vi.  4 

364 

viii.  31  . 

288, 

306 

X.  11 

302 

X.  15 

288 

X.  16 

327 

X.  18 

325 

xiv.  15,16 

373 

xiv.  23  . 

288 

xvi.  23  . 

288 

xviii.  7  . 

266 

xix.  41-44 

414 

xxi. 

256 

xxi.  9-11 . 

150 

xxi.  11,  25 

269, 

284, 

265 

,  311 

xxi.  17  . 

314 

xxi.  24  . 

302 

xxi.  25,  26 

268 

,271 

xxi.  27  . 

298 

xxii.  20  . 

379 

xxii.  29-30 

222, 

239 

,  252 

xxii.  32  . 

• 

320 

John. 

i.  1  . 

376 

i.  4^  5,  8-10 

435 

i.  8,  13,  12 

445 

i.  14 

445 

i.  32,  33  . 

447 

ii.  6 

446 

iii.  5 

447 

iii.  5,  7,  16 

446 

iii.  16   . 

88 

iii.  21   . 

436 

INDEX   OF   BIBLK    TEXTS 


471 


ix.41 


iii.  81-34 

iv.  48 

V.  4 

V.  25  flf. 

V  32,  37 

V.  43 

vi. 

vi.  31,  32 

vi.  51,  53,  5G 

viii.  8,  12 

viii.  17 

viii.  18 

viii.  39 

viii.  39,  41,  44  . 

viii.  42 

viii.  48,  49 

X. 

xii.  13 
xii.  31 
xii.  36 
xiii.  34 
xiv.  2,  3 
xiv.  15,  21 
xiv.  17 
xiv.  20 
xiv.  26 
xiv.  30 
XV.  2,  3 
XV.  10 
XV.  12 
XV.  18,  19 
XV.  21-24 
xvi.  2 
xvi.  3       . 
xvi.  11 
xvii.  17    . 
xvii.  21,  23 
xviii.  37  . 
xxi.  18,  19 
xxi.  18     . 


PAGE 

436 

311 

350 

176 

448 

439 

446 

216 

300 

435 

448 

448 

16 

442 

.     446 

.       25 

.     376 

.     276 

.     325 

.     436 

.     437 

.     384 

.     446 

.     441 

.     446 

.     440 

.     444 

.     441 

.     437 

.     442 

441,  442 

.     441 

.     444 

.     441 

.     328 

.     441 

.     446 

.     183 

7 

.       10 


ii.  27 
iii.  25,  26 
iv.  11 
iv.  12 
iv.  36,  37 
iv.  42 
viii.  1  ff 
viii.  4,  5 
ix.  31 
X.  10 
X.  28 
X.  36 
X.  42 
X.  44-47 
xi.  5 
xi.  9-11 
xi.  19 
xi.  26 
xii.  . 

XV.  . 

XV.  4 
XV.  7 
XV.  29 
xvii,  6 
XX.  7 
XX.  29 
XX.  30 
xxi.  9 
xxi.  17  20 
xxii.  17 
xxvi.  7 


ff, 


PAGE 

288 
2 

21 

2 

83 

21 

77 

228 

447 

246 

265 

2 

2 

3 

186 

417 

3 

217 

6 

12 

4 

6 

222 

210 

186 

39,  61 

439 

156 

77 

186,  246 

.  275 


Romans 


Acts. 

ii.  10 

6 

ii.  21,  38,  39    . 

2 

ii.  4. 
ii.  16 
V.  7,  8 
V.  8. 
V.  15  ff. 
vii.  15  ff. 
vii.  29 
viii.  16 
viii.  34 


50 
385 
445 

88 
436 
436 

85 
448 
436 


ix.  22 
ix.  33 
X.  1  . 
xii.  i. 
xii.  19 
xiii.  1-J 
xiv.  3 
xiv.  10 
XV.  23 


PAGE 
50 

.21 

288 

112 
41 
40 

385 
6 


1  Corinthians. 


i.  7-9 
i.  27,  2{ 
ii.  12 
iii.  22 
vi.  2 
vi.  3 
vi.  12 
vii.  18 
vii.  26,  28 
viii.  1-3 
viii.-x. 
ix.  1 
ix.  5 
ix.  20 
X.  4. 
X.  16 
X.  23 
xi.  . 
xi,  19 
xi.  23-26 
xii.  7,  13 
xii.  8-11 
xiii.  12 
xiv.  16 
xiv.  29 
XV.  9,  11 
XV.  14 
XV.  22 
XV.  26 
XV.  52 
xvi  8 


32 


50,  171 
209 
440 
6 

239,  252 

222 

55 

76 

341 

444 

6 

80 

341 

76 

19 

447 

55 

447 

439 

80,  447 

.  447 

440,  443 

397,  441 

232 

443 

6 

184 

171 

387 

383,  386 

.  186 


472 


INDEX  OF  BIBLE  TEXTS 


2   COJIINTHIANS. 

PAGE 


i.  1 

iii.  18 
V.  10 
vi.  12 
vi.  14 
vi.  17 
vii.  1 
xi.  2 
xii.  2-4 


80 
441 
385 
301 
436 
441 
441 
341 
246 


Galatians. 


i. 

ii. 

6 

ii. 

8,  9      . 

ii. 

19 

ii. 

11  f.     . 

iii 

29       . 

iv. 

10 

iv. 

26 

V. 

14 

vi 

i. 

.  80 
.       80 

1,  6,  53 
.  86 
.  5,  10 
.  16 
.       40 

16,  329 
.  442 
.     436 


Ephesians. 


ii.  3 
ii.  20 
iii.  2,  3 
V.  8 

V.  22-24 
vi.  14 


48 
392 

80 
436 

24 

20 


Philippians. 


.  18 
i.  1 
i.  9 
i.  17 
ii.  2 


301 
52 
301 
257 
266 
399 


COLOSSIANS. 

i.  12    .    .  384 
1.16    .    .   40 


PAGE 

i.  19    .  .  257 

ii.  8    .  .   40 

ii.  11-14  .  .   40 

ii.  16    .  .40 

ii.  18,  20,  21,  23   40 

ii.  23    .  .41 

iii.  12   .  .  301 

iii.  14   .  .  442 

iii.  18   .  .24 

1  Thessalonians. 

iv.  3    .  .   61 

iv.  14   .  .  171 

iv.  14   .  336,  377 

iv.  15-18.  .  384 

v.  2     .  .  353 

v.  21    .  .  443 

2  Thessalonians. 

i.  7  50,  60,  112, 
168,  377 
ii.  1  ff.  .  .  361 
ii.  3  ff.  .  48,  164, 
337,  449 
ii.  8  .  .  188 
ii.  9    .    .   38 

1  Timothy. 

i.  2,  18  .  .   80 

i.  7     .  .40 

ii.  2    .  .  360 

ii.  9-15  .  .   24 

iii.  11.  .61 

iii.  2,  12  .  .  341 

iv.  1,  2  39,  40,  61 

iv.  7    .  .   40 

vi.  13   .  .  183 

vi.  20   .  40,  444 

2  Timothy. 

i.  2  .    .   .80 


i.  15 


41 


ii.  12 
ii.  16  f. 
ii.  18 
iii.  1-8 
iii.  8,  9 
iii.  13 
iv.  i. 
iv.  3,  4 
iv.  6 


PAGE 

239 
41 
40 
41,  42 
39 
41 

385 
41 

266 


Titus. 


i.  6  .  .  .34 

i.  14  .  .   40 

i.  15,  16  .  .42 

iii.  1  f.  .  41,  163 


Hebrews. 


i.  2 

i.  6 

i.  13 

i.  14 

ii.  3 

ii.  11-13 

iv.  12 

iv.  14 

vi.  4  ff. 

vi.  10 

vi.  20 

vii.  20  ff. 

viii.  5 

ix.  1-6 

ix.  7^ 

ix.  10 

ix.  13,  14,  24 

ix.  26  ff. 

X.  4 

X.  5-7   . 

X.  12,  14 

X.  25,  37,  50 

X.  26,  31 

X.  32  ff. 

X.  34 


21 

26 
26 
183 
80 
20 
188 
26,  101 
44,  73 
.  72 
.  26 
.  81 
.  349 
.  82 
.  105 
.  74 
.  436 
50,  85 
.  105 
20,82 
.  85 
72,  73 
73,  448 
72,  77 
.   80 


INDEX   OF   BIBLE   TEXTS 


473 


X.  37 
xi.  26 
xii.  4  ff. 
xii.  15  ff. 
xii.  22 
xii.  23 
xii.  25 
xiii.  7-24 
xiii.  13 
xiii.  14 
xiii.  18 
xiii.  20 


PAGE 
.    85 

.  20 
.  73 
.  73 
.  60 
58,  385 
.  73 
72,  74,  77 
.  73 
.  71 
74,  80 
.   82 


xiii.  23  74,  78,  80,  81 
xiii.  24    .        .74 


James. 


i.  13,  17 
V.  16 
V.  17 


435 
436 
306 


1  Petek. 


i.  1 
i.  2 

i.  4,  5 
i.  6f. 
i.  7 
i.  14 
i.  18 
i.  21 
i.  23 
ii.  9 
ii.  11 
ii.  12 
ii.  13 
ii.  18 
iii.  1 
iii.  6 
iii.  14, 
iv.  3 
iv.  3,  4 
iv.  5 
iv.  7 


.  10 
.  20 
.  21 
17,  28 
.  29 
.  15 
.  436 
.  15 
.  21 
.  252 
.  21 
16,  17 
17,  163,  360 
24 
24 
16 
17 
17 
16 
.  171 
19,  383 


16,  17 


iv.  12 
iv.  13 
iv.  14,  15 
iv.  16 
V.  1-12  . 

2  Peter 

i.  14 
i.  16-18 
ii.  1. 
ii.  4. 
ii.  10 
ii.  15 
iii.  1 
iii.  7,  12 
iii.  10 
iii.  13,  14 
iii.  15 
iii.  15,  16 


PAGE 
.    18 

.  29 
17,42 
.   17 

.   18 


.   34 

34,  445 
39,  43 

35,  378 
.  16 
.  39 
.  14 
.  386 

353,  383 

.  441 

6 

.   34 


1  John. 


i.  1  . 
i.  29 

ii.  18,  19 
ii.  21,  27 
ii.  28 
iii.  2 
iii.  2 
iii.  3 
iii.  14 
iv.  1 


JUDE. 

Various  . 

i.  1,  3,  4,  8 

i.  4  . 

i.  6  . 

i.  9  . 

i.  11 

i.  12 

i.  17 


445 
437 
176 
441 
171 
397 
222 
443 
176 
39 


.  35 
.  54 
47,  59 

47,  378 

48,  327 
39,  48 
.  48 
49,  53 


Revelation. 

PAGE 

i.  1-3  .  170,  284, 
373,  382,  397,  399 
i.  3,  7  .  .  312 
i.  4,  5,  G  .  .  175 
i.  4,  16,  20  .  228 
i.  5  .  .  .238 
i.  6  22,  252,  278,  380 
i.  7,  9  .  .  171 
i.  7,  15,  16   .  298 

8  .    .  189,  391 

9  165,172,174,209 


10-17 
13 

14 
i.  14,  15 
i.  15 
i.  16 
i.  18 
i.  20 
ii.  7. 
ii.  9,  13 
ii.  12,  27 


.  246 

.  349 

.  375 

.  221 

.  289 

.  376 

215,  288 

.  305 

.  391 

.  39 

.  376 


ii.  13  18,161,297,304 
ii.  14,  15.  .39 
ii.  18  228,  298,  375 
ii.  26,  27  .  239,  252 
iii.  2  .  .353 
iii.  5  .  .386 
iii.  10  .  .  273 
iii.  12  .  .  389 
iii.  13  .  .  382 
iii.  14  .  .  183 
iii.  15-17,  18,  21  238 
iii.  21  .  .  222 
iv.  2  .  .  385 
iv.  3  .  .  298 
iv.  4  .  .  349 
V.  1-7  .  .  373 
v.  5  .  .  374 
V.  6  .  .  182 
V.  9,  10,  22  252,  258, 
278,  380 


474 


INDEX   OF   BIBLE   TEXTS 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

V.  11,  12 

.       60,  259 

xi.  16 

, 

251 

xvi.  10,  11 

.     351 

V.  11 

.     277,  348 

xi.  19 

, 

349 

xvi.  12,  13 

.     39, 

V.  13     23 

8,  258,  260 

xii.  2 

. 

325 

333,  344, 

352,  371 

vi.  2 

.     375 

xii.  3 

,        , 

375 

xvi.  14    312 

,  353,  381 

vi.  7 

.     264 

xii  5 

.     326 

,  376 

xvi.  15      . 

.     354 

vi.  8       2f 

n,  288,  292 

xii.  6 

.     331 

,  365 

xvi.  17  ff. 

.     355 

vi.  9,  11 

.     162 

xii.  6,  10 

-12,14 

128 

xvi.  19      . 

14,  307 

vi.  10 

.    267,  282, 

xii.  7 

. 

324 

xvii.  1  ff. 

.     356 

297,  343 

xii.  10,  12,  29  . 

327 

xvii.3ff.  177,350,364 

vi.  12,  13 

.     269 

xii.  11 

. 

162 

xvii.  4 

.     349 

vi.  14 

.     355 

xii.  14 

. 

364 

xvii.  5 

.       14 

vi.  15 

.     312 

xii.  15 

, 

318 

xvii.  6    161, 

358,  369 

vii.  1-3   3 

24,  410,  397 

xii,  17 

. 

329 

xvii.  8 

288,  332, 

vii.  9,  13 

277,  349 

xiii.  1 

.    177, 

312, 

357,  386 

vii.  14 

.     162 

330 

375 

xvii.  9 

.     359 

vii.  16 

.     366 

xiii.  1,  5, 

7       . 

306 

xvii.  10    . 

.       14 

viii.  1  ff. 

175,  279 

xiii.  5 

, 

331 

xvii.  11     . 

.     177 

viii.  3 

258,  266, 

xiii.  (5,  7 

, 

332 

xvii.  12,  14, 

17, 

281,  282 

xiii.  8 

. 

38 

18 

.     360 

viii.  6-10 

283,  312 

xiii.  8,  15 

. 

162 

xvii.  14    . 

.     352 

viii.  8-11 

292,  350 

xiii.  9,  U 

),  11  ff. 

333 

xvii.  16  361 

370,  371 

viii.  13 

.     285 

xiii.  11  ff 

. 

177 

xvii,  18    . 

.     307 

ix.  1  ff.     . 

288,  289, 

xiii.  14-1 

7    232, 

334 

xvii.  1  ff. . 

.     362 

306,  359 

xiii.  16 

. 

274 

xviii.  2     . 

.       14 

ix.  3,  10  . 

.     312 

xiii.  17 

. 

167 

xviii.  2,  8 

.     370 

ix.  5 

.     290 

xiv.  1-5 

.      259, 

340 

xviii.  2,  10, 

16, 

ix.  12,  13 

.     291 

xiv.  8       14.  307, 

357 

18,  19,  21 

.     307 

ix.  13-21 . 

.     175 

xiv.  9 

.      167, 

274 

xviii.  3     . 

.     364 

ix.  14-19 

292,  293 

xiv.  10 

. 

296 

xviii.  4  ff. 

.     365 

, 

312,  ;552 

xiv.  10,  18 

350 

xviii.  5-8 

.     366 

ix.  20 

293,  297 

xiv.  10,  19 

376 

xviii.  8     . 

.     221 

X.  1  . 

.     298 

xiv.  11,  1. 

2,  13. 

342, 

xviii.  9,  18 

.     372 

X.  3,  4      . 

.     299 

344, 

373 

xviii.  9-20 

.     367 

X.  7. 

306,  388 

xiv.  14-16 

345 

xviii.  12,  16 

.     358 

xi.  1 

.     347 

xiv.  20 

.     370, 

379 

xviii.  16   . 

.     349 

xi.  2 

.     172 

XV.  1  ff. 

348 

xviii.  21    14, 

368,  369 

xi.  5 

.     331 

XV.  5  ff. 

349 

xviii.  24  . 

.     162 

xi.  6 

.     306 

XV.  8 

352 

xix.  1-10. 

371,  372 

xi.  7 

.     288 

XV.  13 

386 

xix.  8,  14 

.     349 

xi.  8,  9     . 

307,  308 

xvi.  1 

349 

xix.  11     . 

.     183 

xi.  11 

.     309 

xvi.  5 

175 

xix.  13      . 

.     375 

xi.  13     35 

5,  371,  379 

xvi.  6 

162, 

343 

xix.  16      . 

.     375 

xi.  15 

.     321 

xvi.  8,  9 

, 

351 

xix.  17  ff, 

.    377 

INDEX  OF  BIBLE  TEXTS 


475 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

xix.  18,  19 

.    352, 

XX.  10      39, 

177,  289 

xxii. 

1       . 

2.58,  271 

380,  397 

XX.  12       . 

385,  386 

xxii. 

1,7,1 

2,20    171 

xix.  20     . 

39,  274, 

XX.  13       . 

306,  386 

xxii. 

2      . 

.     396 

296,  333 

xxi.  1  fT.  . 

.     388 

xxii. 

4      . 

.     441 

XX.  1,  3    . 

288,  377 

xxi.  1,  <5,  8 

.     385 

xxii. 

5 

.    239, 

XX.  1-8     . 

.     176 

xxi.  2,  22 

.     232 

252,  397 

vx.  2 

.     324 

xxi.  3 

.     390 

xxii. 

6      . 

.     183 

XX.  4 

162,  222, 

xxi.  8    211, 

289,  296 

xxii. 

10-17 

.     399 

274,  .385 

xxi.  11 

.     251 

xxii. 

13    . 

.     238 

XX.  6 

22,  211, 

xxi.  13,  14 

.     288 

xxii. 

15    . 

.     299 

252,  379 

xxi.  14      . 

.     174 

xxii. 

16    . 

.     222 

XX.  7,  10  . 

.     380 

xxi.  16     . 

.     393 

xxii. 

17   . 

391,  400 

XX.  8 

.     352 

xxi.  18      . 

.     393 

xxii. 

27    . 

.     395 

XX.  9      309, 

353,  397 

xxi.  21     . 

.     394 

THE    END 


Date  Ehie 

M2->S^ 

f) 

BS511.G313V.4 
New  Testament  hours. 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00046  3796 


